She was such a singular, precious member of our house, not one of those reticent "leave me alone" felines that go about their business and prefer that you stay your distance.

No, our Snappy was an "in your face" kitty with a personality all her own. My memories are filled with little scuffles with her. She had an annoying habit of wanting to sleep against my head. Many times, I would wake up when she jumped up and leaned heavily against my head. I would usually push her away if she pulled my hair because it is next to impossible to get any sleep when you are in pain. But she learned to "pussy foot" during these nocturnal attempts. She would gently and ohhh so quietly edge up to the pillow and carefully inch nearer to the top of my head, until she was content that she was actually touching me, but not disturbing me. At these times, when I knew that she was being considerate, I would allow her to sleep there on the pillow. If only she were still here, I would gladly allow her to sleep wherever she liked.

Snappy, the girl with the snapping eyes, a brilliant green with golden centers. She raised three litters of kittens in her day and was the most attentive mothr cat that I have known. She loved her kittens with a passion. Some of our most entertaining times were when she was teaching her kits to play. Cats play with a joy in their hearts. The cares of the world are gone for the moment, and it is time for games, played like the Olympics, with gusto.

Another of Snappy's passions was watermelon juice. She usually had excellent kitchen or table manners, if you will. But when it came to watermelon, she could not control herself. As soon as you cut into a watermelon with the knife, she was excited, her tail waving purposefully, her eye on the prize. She would wait until I sat down with my plate of watermelon, then sidle carefully (somewhat like the pillow thing), up to my plate. She would gingerly inch towards the sweet, red fruit, so as not to alarm me. Then she would stake out her little section of the plate, somewhere away from where I was eating, and begin to take little cat sips of the juice. She absolutely loved watermelon juice. What a cat! She brought many laughs to our little familly. Many times at the grocery store, one of us would say, "Shall we get Snappy a watermelon?"

This sweet and loving SnappyCat, who never met a person she didn't like, passed away in July, a victim of lymphoma, another loved one that cancer has stolen from our family. We are thankful that she didn't suffer. One week, she had a few sniffles and seemed not to feel very well. After a trip to the vet and a shot, she seemed to be her old self, eating and flying around the house with our other cat. We thought she was cured of a "cold". One day the following week, she began to vomit and pant. We rushed her back to the vet, and that time the diagnosis was much different. She died that same afternoon. For some time, she had been carrying around that deadly killer, and we never knew. Life is so fleeting. We must make every precious moment count.