Friday, September 17th, 2004

by the Writer's Guild of Wunderland

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• Now Available: The 2004 Promo Card Pack
• Results of the First Ice Game Design Competition!

We lost a very dear friend this week: Aslan, our oldest and most important cat, has taken his final nap.

I vividly recall the first time I met Aslan. It was 18 years ago, back when I was just starting out as a programmer at NASA. My wacky co-worker Kristin Wunderlich had just gotten a cute little kitten she'd named Aslan, and she brought him in to work one day to show him off to everyone. I remember walking down to her office to see where she was hiding this little gray fuzzball: she'd set up a special little nook for him inside one of the drawers of her big gray government desk! He was only there that one day, for a few hours after lunch, but it made a big impression on me. Who was this zany woman who would bring a kitten to the office? Little did I realize then that I would someday marry that wonderful wacky girl, and that Aslan would in turn become my cat as well.

Of course, I have many other happy memories of this most excellent cat (and some not so pleasant ones, like the time when he had a big fight with my cat Iggy, during which Aslan bit my hand and I had to go to the Emergency Room to get a couple of stitches). Perhaps my favorite Aslan memory is simply the nightly tradition he had of climbing onto your chest when you were lying down on your back and "bonking" his face against your chin. He was so sweet! We shall all miss him very very much.

Although we're all terribly sad about the passing of such a dear friend, we also remind ourselves that he lived a very full and happy life and departed with contentment and dignity. We've all had plenty of time to say goodbye. Towards the end, it was clear that his time was nearly up, but even after he became terribly thin and frail, he was still able to move around with surprising agility. He kept climbing the stairs to take naps in all his favorite spots around the house, right up until his final, peaceful nap in one of his all-time favorite places: a cardboard box.

Aslan's final nap ended around sunrise today. This evening, we buried him in a corner of our backyard. We planted a pussy willow tree over him, so that Aslan can nourish new life as it grows above him. In the springtime, the tree's buds will look like his fur. When the tree gets tall, it will fill in a hole in the sky that's been there ever since we had that big dead tree removed 3 years ago.

Goodbye, Aslan. You will live in our hearts forever.

Here's to being alive!