Taste of Time: To Love and Be Loved

Yesterday, my sister sms me to say that Simba has passed away. I heard that he was ill for some days and was hospitalised in an animal hospital near my sister's home. I didn't expect it to be so sudden that a mere flu could kill a cat. Like Melody said, "he's old, old cats cannot be sick."

The last time I saw Simba was some months back. I think it was almost last March or so. Ever since we open shop, I didn't go to my sister's home for quite a while.

Simba is a mixed Persian cat. He was 'discovered' and rescued by my niece Tricia and her close friend, Michael. And found in the monsoon drains near their home. Together with 2 other female cats that look like Simba. The 3 cats were cleaned up and the 2 females were rehomed by the Singapore Cats Welfare Society while Tricia decided to keep the male cat. He was given the name of Simba..as in Disney's animated movie "The Lion King".

He was skinny when he first came. And all he could think of was to go out and find his girlfriends. We suspected that the 2 females may be his wives or concubines. And he may have been someone's pets until they have to moved out and left the cats behind to fend for themselves.

But if you are a Cat person, you will know that while you may like to move to a new area to stay, your cat thinks otherwise. He may still think that home is not where your heart is, its where he grew up in or where he finds comfort in. And most likely, that will be the place he spends all his days at.

So Simba stayed put with his felines. Then a rainstorm came and he ended up in the drains. Cold, wet and almost dehydrated and very hungry, he was just too weak to move.

When my niece found him, he was all too please to be handled. My niece Tricia, is an animal lover. If she has her own place, we all knew that there will cats and dogs in every inch of her house! Simba was brought home, cleaned up and sent to the Vet for a full medical check up.

He stayed with the family. And was loved and adored by everyone in the family. My sis had parties to welcome Simba. All of us came to dine and also to play with the cat.

In return, Simba returned his love for the family. And was very much our family's pet and family member too. He ruled the house over the dog. Yes, there is a dog in the house too. They got on pretty well. No cat n dog fights.

I always believe in one simple thing about Love and that is :

If you love someone, what you get is more love in return. Just like Nat King Cole used to sing that song "Nature Boy". One of the verses to that song said " The Greatest thing, you will ever learn, is just To Love and Be Loved in return"

This post is dedicated to Simba, the cat that rules us. May he rest in peace, knowing that he will be greatly missed and still have a special place in our hearts and mind.

Here's Melody hugging and loving Simba who doesn't look very pleased, though!