One of the first things I learned about Meggan was that she had a cat. This was back in the days just before smart phones, so Meggan was taking pictures of Ricky and texting them to my email. One of them was titled "a more formal introduction," with Ricky's paw extended in a rather regal 'kiss my hand' pose. Pic attached.

The next story she told me was that she was working from home, and that Ricky kept meowing from the kitchen, and coming in and pawing at her to try to get her to come over. It turns out that a squirrel had snuck into the porch somehow, and then set up camp in the kitchen. Ricky was very concerned about the squirrel and couldn't do anything about it himself. Meggan was able to shoo the squirrel out the porch door.

Ricky was a constant fixture in my relationship with Meggan. I always offered to catsit for her when she went on vacation, so I got to know Ricky's habits quite well. He was on the needier side, and would let you know when he wanted pets. For quite a long time, I didn't have a cat of my own, and it was great to come over and have Ricky knead into my leg while he purred.

Before I met Meggan, she had split up with some roommates, who got Ricky's sister, Podo, an orange tabby. Meggan said that Ricky would always come running if he heard Podo meowing. 

I remember something that made Meggan laugh a lot. For a long time, I was puzzled by the coloration on Ricky's butt. I asked Meggan, "why does Ricky have two buttholes?" Meggan cracked up at this, and couldn't stop laughing for a few minutes. It turns out he just happened to have a particular fur pattern around where he was neutered. That was a longstanding joke for us.

I got to see Ricky in his younger years, tearing down the hall when he knew it was dinner time. And I also got to see him get into his infirmity, with creaking bones and lots of late-night deaf caterwauling. Though I wish it weren't this way, I suppose there are parallels with Meggan's life -- having to see her wind down to the very end. At least the many years prior were extremely precious, and some of that because of Ricky.

Here's a link to many photos of Ricky I've gathered over the years: https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOthhQW51mL5aBp6vts3Eqz8JEDIRgMYxP8_JyU_zczkeAIiPAf79nB2dzDrQlywg?key=UTVlRjVYQ29RT3VhdEFhbmo1SnVQekJfcWRpamNn