In 1997 several momentous things happened in the life of the FullCup Family.  We moved from the middle of nowhere Nebraska to outside St. Louis, Missouri. In June, my nephew was born and I was there. Not in the room, I had charge of his big sister. I like to think we had fun. I will never forget the conversation she had with her mom (my sister), “Yes, Momma, Aunt Giga is here. But it’s the new Aunt Giga. I’d like the old one.”

Following that momentous occasion, Mr. Full Cup and I added to our own little family. We adopted a kitten from a pet store.  We named him, or more aptly, he told us his name was Alexander, and we called him Alex.

Alex was never your typical cat. He loved to go for rides in the car, he would get so excited when his kennel would come out. He’d run inside and lay down. He hated it when we were gone. He would tell us when it was bedtime. Alex would walk down the stairs in our town house, looking very bleary eyed and yowl at us before turning around and going back to bed. If we said, “Alex, is it bedtime?” often he would race us up to bed.

He would play fetch with toy mice. He would even pant when he was tired.  When it was close to time for Mr. FullCup  to come home from work, Alex would race down the stairs, sit in the window and watch for him.

In January of 2000 he moved back to the great state of Nebraska with us. He never really liked car rides after that trip.  I can’t say I blame him at all. It was a long drive.

A few months ago we had to take him to the vet and he hasn’t been acting right since. I am not saying the vet did anything, he wasn’t acting right before too.  After Thanksgiving this year, he started showing signs of urinary incontinence. Last night I woke up to my house smelling like cat urine.

So we made the call. In a few minutes, Alex will breath his last.