Remembering Krista

illa_wen

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I have fur and teeth of Krista’s. Neither are really intentional. In her senior years when she was having tooth resorption, the vets sent me home with vials of teeth or tooth fragments after her more straightforward extractions. I kept them more out of a sense of, “I might appreciate these later,” rather than an attachment to them then. Or now. And the fur, it’s still around the home. In the cat trees. Probably in the carpet. Like glitter and my love for Krista, cat hair is forever. 😹😻
This made me tear up, reminds me of the way I feel about my boy Boo.
 

tarasgirl06

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Mental and emotional health professionals, as well as highly successful people, caution against letting what others think rule your life. Fortunately, my parents, who were both excellent citizens and well liked by many, taught me this as well. In one's personal life, especially regarding one's loved ones, the precious memories, emotional and physical, are sacred to us and no one has the right to tell us we're "wrong" or to judge us for this. They are the ones who have something lacking, not us.
 

daftcat75

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I have a dim mental image. It's not quite aphantasia where there is no picture at all. But it's quite underdeveloped. I need the pictures and the videos I have of Krista to remember her. 😿 Otherwise, it's just vague flashes like shadows in my mind's eye. Like a line drawing with captions: "This is my best attempt at a Krista." 🤦‍♂️ On the other hand, things like physical remains don't have as much of an impact on me because they don't flood me with images like someone with more vivid mental imagery. This is also why I don't have much connection to them either. Her teeth are where I parked them and haven't moved them since: one vial in the medicine cabinet and one vial in my pens/pencil cup on my desk. I'm still kind of dumbfounded how I can remember mundane details like that but can't draw a clear picture of my beloved Krista in my head. 🤷‍♂️😿
 

tarasgirl06

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I have a dim mental image. It's not quite aphantasia where there is no picture at all. But it's quite underdeveloped. I need the pictures and the videos I have of Krista to remember her. 😿 Otherwise, it's just vague flashes like shadows in my mind's eye. Like a line drawing with captions: "This is my best attempt at a Krista." 🤦‍♂️ On the other hand, things like physical remains don't have as much of an impact on me because they don't flood me with images like someone with more vivid mental imagery. This is also why I don't have much connection to them either. Her teeth are where I parked them and haven't moved them since: one vial in the medicine cabinet and one vial in my pens/pencil cup on my desk. I'm still kind of dumbfounded how I can remember mundane details like that but can't draw a clear picture of my beloved Krista in my head. 🤷‍♂️😿
Our love for our loved ones may be strong but we cannot control how we process our memories or our feelings. I have the same thing, to some extent, but mine is at different times. Sometimes I do have vivid memories. At others, I feel like, "WHY can't I see/experience in my mind's eye/feel strongly what I want?" I guess it's not neurotypical? I only know that each of my loved ones is part of my heart and soul/carries a part of my heart and soul with them when they ascend. Some aspects of what you describe bug me but bottom line, I think that if the Creator had wanted me to be different in those respects, I would BE different in those respects; and I try not to focus on it too much. Does that make sense?
 

daftcat75

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July 14, 2020:
I saw this view a lot this month. Because her balance was still recovering from her ear infection, she wasn’t jumping like she used to. She would show up next to me like this and give me the eyes. Sometimes she tried to jump into my lap but she’d fall short and climb the rest of the way. 😿🤦🏼‍♂️
D6DE31FF-EB9A-4D28-80DB-833D96A3075F.jpeg
It looks like she found a way around her head tilt. Offset her body. 😹
 

tarasgirl06

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July 14, 2020:
I saw this view a lot this month. Because her balance was still recovering from her ear infection, she wasn’t jumping like she used to. She would show up next to me like this and give me the eyes. Sometimes she tried to jump into my lap but she’d fall short and climb the rest of the way. 😿🤦🏼‍♂️
View attachment 387814
It looks like she found a way around her head tilt. Offset her body. 😹
Definitely a PAW-PURR-azzi's delight! :hearthrob: :kneading: :hearthrob:
 

daftcat75

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Not a memento from Krista I intended to keep. 🤦🏼‍♂️ I guess I had a sleeper colony that got stirred with the heat. 😾
1C804417-5F3B-4AC2-9D3F-3BB3949DFC25.jpeg
At least I can spray and bomb without feline lungs and organs to worry about.

Now back to my search for “can humans take Capstar?” 😹
 

tarasgirl06

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tarasgirl06

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bear

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DaftCat75 said "Otherwise, it's just vague flashes like shadows in my mind's eye. Like a line drawing with captions: "This is my best attempt at a Krista.""

We tend to learn in three major ways.
1) Auditory - Words including written or spoken
2) Visual - Pictures, graphs, charts
3) Kinesthetic - Touch, following forms, repetitive "hands on" actions
Each of us has one of the above which is primary for our learning, yet each of us will use all three to varying degrees.
I tend to be far more kinesthetic than many other folks.

Sometimes I think this plays into memory as well.
I have not yet found an answer to the question: If we are more visual do we mentally see images better in memories?
I have minor skills in photography and have sizable images of my former cats as art on my walls.
Of course I can react when I see them.
Yet being primarily a kinesthetic influenced learner, I find the strongest remembrances come when a familiar place returns feelings inside. These then move to the external and then flow within to be deep in the reconnections to my former felines and others.

Like sitting quietly at a desk, reading on the screen, and the thought of a strong head butt comes from nowhere. It then appears at the skin above the closed eyes and radiates as a growing circle with a wonderfully strong yet soft force back through closed eyes. You don't even ask which cat. How it radiates into you gives the answer.
Like certain samba music that I used to cat dance with my Turkish Van male. My feet move recklessly, and I feel his paws on each side of my neck as I turn and now he is there in my arms.

Possibly even those with visual artist strengths have their memories clouded, or I would say enhanced by auditory and kinesthetic influences that complete the picture more fully.
 
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tarasgirl06

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DaftCat75 said "Otherwise, it's just vague flashes like shadows in my mind's eye. Like a line drawing with captions: "This is my best attempt at a Krista.""

We tend to learn in three major ways.
1) Auditory - Words including written or spoken
2) Visual - Pictures, graphs, charts
3) Kinesthetic - Touch, following forms, repetitive "hands on" actions
Each of us has one of the above which is primary for our learning, yet each of us will use all three to varying degrees.
I tend to be far more kinesthetic than many other folks.

Sometimes I think this plays into memory as well.
I have not yet found an answer to the question: If we are more visual do we mentally see images better in memories?
I have minor skills in photography and have sizable images of my former cats as art on my walls.
Of course I can react when I see them.
Yet being primarily a kinesthetic influenced learner, I find the strongest remembrances come when a familiar place returns feelings inside. These then move to the external and then flow within to be deep in the reconnections to my former felines and others.

Like sitting quietly at a desk, reading on the screen, and the thought of a strong head butt comes from nowhere. It then appears at the skin above the closed eyes and radiates as a growing circle with a wonderfully strong yet soft force back through closed eyes. You don't even ask which cat. How it radiates into you gives the answer.
Like certain samba music that I used to cat dance with my Turkish Van male. My feet move recklessly, and I feel his paws on each side of my neck as I turn and now he is there in my arms.

Possibly even those with visual artist strengths have their memories clouded, or I would say enhanced by auditory and kinesthetic influences that complete the picture more fully.
I like your post a lot. I guess I'm more #3 as well. And I also have songs for some of my beloved cats. When I hear any of them, it stops me in my tracks and I feel like they are messaging me in some way.
 
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