A Soul Mate

Photo by Cathy Wilkinson Barash

Cathy Wilkinson Barash, an author, photographer, editor, speaker, and consultant, known as The Blooming Gourmet, shared this touching story of her garden cat and "the cat of my life," Sebastian.

47 years ago, Sebastian came into my life. When we lived in Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, New York, on a fabulous estate as caretakers, he and I would walk down the hill to the harbor every day. The first winter it was so cold the harbor froze over and as things started to thaw, there were ice floes on the beach. He loved nothing better than to jump on the floe and skid down it onto the beach. Needless to say, it scared me to bits thinking he might slide into the water and I'd have to try to save him. 

            He gardened with me and was my companion as I wrote my books. He used down to my basement office if he wasn't already laying in the drawer of my desk, about 11 o'clock at night nudging at me to come upstairs and go to bed. If I ignored him or told him to go away he come back about 1 o'clock in the morning, more demanding. One night, as I was working on Edible Flowers from Garden to Palate, (he even sneaked a taste of recipes I was working on!) on my word processor, it was 1 o'clock and I ignored him. He jumped up on the keyboard and managed to delete the chapter I was working on, which included the only copies of many of the recipes. My stepsister had given me an embroidered pillow that said "This house is ruled by the cat." How true!. After that, I paid strict attention to his bedtime suggestions. He was the cover and centerfold for "Cats in the Garden" calendar and his photo appeared in many of my books. 

            As I was the program chair for the Long Island horticultural Society, over the years, when we were still living as caretakers on Long Island, I had many of the GWA (now GardenComm) members as speakers. They stayed at the house (upstairs in the main house; we lived in what had been the wing built when the family already four boys and our landlady, whose husband was pushing for a girl, had twins… a boy and a girl… and they built the wing we lived in as two bedrooms and a bath for the twins and their nanny. The kitchen had been a closet; with an undercounter fridge and tiny oven and bar sink. I should have written a book called Cooking in a Closet!) It was nice for us as it gave our guests privacy, and then they could come down and have meals and socialize with us and Sebastian! So Sebastian became friend with garden writers from all over the country over a period of about a dozen years! 

            At age 15, several months after he got his annual rabies vaccination, he came down with fibrosarcoma at the injection site. Apparently, this occurs in one out of every 5000 injections. I loved my vet, but she did not have a surgery as she specialized in house calls. Fortunately, my brother-in-law was a vet and he did the surgery. Sebastian did well for a year and a half and then the cancer returned. At that time, I had already committed to moving to Des Moines. My brother-in-law operated again, but we knew that it could return.  

            Sebastian had a great trip to Des Moines. We flew on the Meredith Learjet! Fridays were bring your pet to work day, and Sebastian loved going into the office. He was great in the car and rode in the hump above the steering wheel by the windshield, startling other drivers at times. At work, he really didn't need a leash, as he knew which floor to walk up to. He got very spoiled with many people coming into the office to visit him or taking him for walks.
            Unfortunately, after a year and a half, the cancer returned. Several friends had told me to get in touch with Gail DeScoise, an animal communicator (I knew her husband Joe, a photographer from GWA). We had several very interesting sessions, and he said he would be back after two winters. He also said that if I needed feline companionship in the meantime, I could get a female cat. Sebastian died peacefully at home.
            A couple of months later I saw a picture of a group of kittens on the bulletin board at work and that is how Tiarella came into my life. Two years later as predicted, thanks to Doug Jimerson and Karen Weir-Jimerson, Bogart joined our family. Five years later, also from the Jimersons, came Pause. Of the trio, he is still with me, having celebrated his 16th birthday in May, and Itty Bitty Kitty joined us five years ago. However, Sebastian remains "the cat of my life"...a true soul mate, who I still miss. Here he is pictured (above) in the garden in Cold Spring Harbor in his whiskey barrel, which was planted with catmint, chives, sage, and some other herbs. The whiskey barrel moved with us to Des Moines!