Chief is 20 years old today. I can no longer claim he’s merely a teenager when anyone says he’s old. The truth is, he is old.
Twenty years ago, I was just a teenager myself. I asked my mother if we could just look at kittens. Sure, just to look. But one look was all I needed. Chief pawed through the cage when every other cat asked to be left alone. We didn’t get him that day, because we were just looking.
Mom came home later that week with Chief in tow, as a surprise. We’ve been inseparable ever since. This is the first photo I have of him, when he was just a year old.

Just two years later, Chief and I moved from Missouri to California for my first job. We went across the country to North Carolina, back out to California, and up to Oregon.

Besides flying, this is the highest Chief has ever been! We lived on the 18th floor for a few years in Portland. When we lived there, he was quite frequently behind my warm display on top the iPod HiFi in the Parakeet office.

Then we moved into a house, which gave him a lot more room to move around, and a better look at what’s happening on the ground. More birds and squirrels to gaze at. No matter how loud the laser cutter was, he’d be on our workbench because it was the sunniest spot.

Chief is an experienced traveler, but his next flight was the longest ever! Thirteen hours from Seattle to Tokyo, where we now live. The lab work and paperwork required to get him into the country rivaled my own.
The staircase in my new apartment leads up to the roof, and it is—again—a very sunny spot.

Late last year, Chief had a seizure, and it was horrible to witness. He already receives every-other-week treatment for chronic kidney disease, but we found ourselves at the vet more often. Luckily for us, the nearest is just a one-minute walk from home, which makes it as easy as it can be.
But he can’t move around as easily anymore. His back legs just gave up. Which means he can’t climb the stairs or jump onto a chair or couch anymore. He’s got even better at communicating when he needs help, even if sometimes it means that he just wants to be held, something he never really tolerated much of until recently.
I love him. He really is the sweetest. Happy birthday, Chief.

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