Gummo

His name was Gummo.

He is also known as Sweet Gumster, Fierce Warrior, The International Pop Star, Mr. Withers, Buddy, and Bubblegum Gangster (there was a theme song- thank you Sam and Julie). Those of you who knew him marveled at his ferocity. At his good looks. Many of our New York City friends received bites or leg attacks from him. Many were scared of him until they got to know him and realized he was just testing them.  Many mice did not survive his gaze.

When we moved to Kansas in 2012, he mellowed a little. He got sweeter. Not as much biting and he had his own lazy boy chair right next to Matt’s Dad Harry. He also had a lot of things to explore – the backyard, and grass, and birds, and closets, and stairs and little corners full of musty, dusty things. He loved it.He was still the center of attention at parties or dinners….sitting in the middle of the room and looking handsome. He was always so handsome!

The past few months he’d been seriously declining. He was 17 years old…and I guess I thought he’d get really old with us. I was forgetting he was like 90 in cat years. It wasn’t easy for Matt and I to realize that he wasn’t getting better, but worse. He just wasn’t eating, or moving that much – he was weak and in a lot of pain. The past week he’s hardly moved from behind the couch.

He was suffering a lot….we knew we had to take him to the vet. Yesterday he died peacefully with us holding him. The shock of this is pretty intense.
Those of you who knew him know how much a part of our family he was. He was my muse at different times. I went through a couple years of just drawing Gummo. We put him on the cover of a Schwervon! record. There were so many good moments of him lying on my belly or Matt’s lap, or how he always liked his head held, or how he’d wake us up at 4am by rustling paper or jumping on us because he was hungry.

Gummo.
Thank you for being in our lives.
We loved and love you with all of our hearts.
-Nan