Category: Music

Ailurophile – cat person.

I’m really not a cat person, I’m more like a Nadja person.

I picked up Nadja’s ashes from the vet on Tuesday.  I didn’t go alone.  I was afraid it would be too difficult.  Nadja’s passing was something my logical self was almost prepared for, but once she was gone, my heart received a jolt that took me utterly by surprise.  I’m fortunate because I have friends around me who understand.

One friend, Lisa, suggested a formal gathering to honor her memory, and she helped me put it together on Wednesday night.  I don’t think I would have thought of it myself, but it was perfect.  This gesture of friendship and so many like it,  have been instrumental in helping me deal with the loss.  We invited a small group of people who knew Nadja and knew how much she meant to me.  Some had cared for her when I traveled.  I wish some Omaha and Kansas City people could have been here too.  We shared stories and Lisa (a singer and musician) sang two songs and played guitar.  We drank champagne and toasted a sweet little cat life and then we went out on the roof.  Nadja’s favorite place in the world was the roof and I can’t tell you how happy I am that her last 2 years of life were very possibly her most joyful since we made this cat heaven of an apartment our new home.  We lit candles and I spread her ashes.  We let the candles burn through the night out on the roof where Nadja loved to play.

What are they doing in heaven today?
I don’t know boy
But it’s my biz to say it and sing about it

Chorus:
What are they doing in heaven today,
Where sin and sorrow are all done away?
Peace abounds like a river, they say.
What are they doing there now?

I’m thinking of friends whom I used to know,
Who lived and suffered in this world below
But they’ve gone off to heaven, but I want to know
What are they doing there now?

Oh, what are they doing in heaven today,
Where sin and sorrow are all done away?
Peace abounds like a river, they say.
But what are they doing there now?

There’s some whose hearts were burdened with care
They paid for their moment to fighting and tears
But they clung to the cross with trembling and fear
But what are they doing there now?

(chorus)

And there’s some whose bodies were full of disease
Physicians and doctors couldn’t give them much ease
But they suffered ’til death brought a final release
But what are they doing there now?

(chorus)

There’s some who were poor and often despised
They looked up to heaven with tear-blinded eyes
While people were heedless and deaf to their cries
But what are they doing there now?