TAKEN: A MEDITATION ON DEATH

July 31, 1995 was a good day.  A very pregnant cat found its way to our Pap's property on Harmony Grove Road. Stray cat visits from the nearby farm were plentiful, but pregnant stray cats no so much. Our pap had a soft spot in his heart so he made up a bed in the garage; and sometime during the night five kittens were added to the population in Dover, PA. 


A few weeks later when our four year old daughter walked up to the new litter, a kitten she would later name Buttons immediately stumbled over to her.  This was the first day of a very special fifteen year relationship between Melody and Buttons.

My special name for Buttons was "Dumb Cat".  Why that name?  Just one of many memories was getting a call from my wife asking me to come home, since they saw a mouse run across the living room. When I got there my wife, daughter and Buttons were all standing on kitchen chairs.  Now I can understand why my wife and daughter were scared of a mouse - but a cat?  Another reason for the name "Dumb Cat"

July 5, 2011 was not a good day.  Buttons died.  At this time our daughter was a digital film major at Messiah College and she captured her grief in a somewhat dark production she created called "TAKEN: A Meditation on Death."  The cat portrayed in the film is not Buttons, but his death had a profound effect on our daughter.  Click HERE to view "TAKEN".



(before you think my wife, daughter and cat were silly to stand on kitchen chairs, check out these grown men standing on their seats in the NYC subway when a rat is on the loose.  Click HERE)