Greeting! This is Daffodil, and I am confiscating my mom’s blog for the next couple of weeks. I have a very big event coming in my life, and I’d like to share some insights with you while I have the time and energy.

On August 1st, I’ll turn 17 years old. (That’s 17 cat years, but 84 human years). If I make it to that birthday, it will be such a huge accomplishment for me. You see, on March 7, 2014, I was diagnosed with severe kidney failure. I shouldn’t have lived through that time, but I did. Here it is nearly a year and a half later, and I’m still here. I’ve heard multiple vets tell my mom in this time that I have little time left.

Ha! I’m here to report that I’m still here! But I too can feel that my time is limited. Certain things are more difficult than they used to be, and my mom has to water me once-a-day. If I make it through these next ten days, I’d like to share with you something I’ve learned in my many feline years each day.

For today, I’d like to share that it is a blessing to live each day like you’re dying. I do my usual things each day, although sometimes a bit slower than usual. I spend time with my mom when she is around. I sit in the sun with my fellow felines in the afternoon when I feel like it. The only difference is that I push my way into a couple of things I used to feel like I shouldn’t do.

Now, I ask for those things, and the answer has changed to, “Yes, my funny pants!” at least some of the time. It’s worth asking again. She thinks the long hair on my thighs looks like pantaloons, whatever those are, so she sometimes call me funny pants. Because I’m getting some extra loving, I don’t cough up hair balls by her shoes anymore when she calls me funny pants. So you see, we both win!