Catstory 101: Sampson 1968-1978

Sampson in 1978

Sampson the Cat: 1968 - 1978

Sampson and I grew up together!  Really, I was born in 1968 and Sampson joined the family in the same year.  I am not sure where he came from and I, sadly, have few memories of him.   I'm not even sure how he died.  One day I came home from school and found out that my mother had taken him to the vet.  He died soon after.   Apparently, he had had a heart attack and was being kept alive on drugs but my mother decided to let him go and they put him to sleep.

Sampson is in one of my earliest childhood memories though.  I was bathing in the tub and Sampson leaped in with me.  He was cat-knee deep in water and just froze.  I'll never forget the look on his face.  Something like "I can't believe I just did that..."  In one terrific move, he leaped back out of the tub and ran off, to dry himself and hide in embarrassment.  

Sampson was an outdoor cat for the first years of his life and another story I've been told about him is the day he leaped through the window with a bird in his mouth as a gift for my mother.  My mom has a phobia about birds (especially dead ones), so of course she screamed bloody murder.  Sampson, grabbing the bird, leaping back out through the window.

I don't remember much about his behavior or whether he meowed a lot.  But I can tell you one creepy thing.  After he died, I had a reoccurring dream in which I was playing chase with him in the upstairs of this old creepy house we lived in.  Running to catch him, arms outstretched, he'd vanish right before I could catch him.