I am not quite sure why I rented “Marley and Me” through Netflix but it was not the best movie to watch less than three weeks after I put my my cat and friend of 19.5 years, Hamlet, to sleep. While it was a movie, and the circumstances were not exactly the same, there were many similarities in the downfall of Marley and of Hamlet. The loss of energy, the deterioration of vital organs, the look on their faces….
I felt a horrible deja vu as Owen Wilson said his goodbyes to Marley who laid helplessly on a table in the vet’s examining room. He made a decision, as did I, that it was better to put the dog down. I will wonder forever,why I thought I had the power. He held Marley close as I did Hamlet, thanked him for all the love and joy he had brought him and his family and wished him well in in the afterlife. He stayed close, as did I, as the doctor injected the death potion into the IV.
He caressed Marley…as I did Hamlet, as within less than twenty seconds, his eyes closed, the doctor checked for a heartbeat, and declared his friend of so many years dead. Except Hamlet’s eyes never closed and he twitched and occasionally expelled air from his lungs for five or six minutes after he was declared dead. If there is a kitty heaven, Hamlet deserves to be there.
I lingered for some time with him until I wondered what else I was supposed to do. What could I do? It was over. I still hope that I did the right thing. Sure it was only a movie, but as I think about Marley, helplessly lying in the cold and compare him to Hamlet helpless convulsing in a diabetic seizure, I think I did the right thing. Even so, I am not sure I will sleep too well tonight.