A Goodbye To Benny

Today we laid Benny to rest after six weeks of intensive care. It has been only a few hours since then, but we are still enjoying amusing and entertaining stories that have come across our minds.

Benny Goodman, 1992-2007.

I’m pretty sure the first thing everyone noticed about Benny was his unbelievable hiss! He sure had a unique ability to give you his immediate, uncensored opinion at any moment. He would often set his personal boundaries regardless of what you had to do with an incredible hiss. A hiss that could easily win national contests of hissing! But we knew his bark was worse than his bite… at least until you were bit!

To many of our friends and visitors their experience was that Benny was a bit of a psycho cat. But to us living with him, we knew him to be quite a character who didn’t let many people into his small world without paying a price.

It took him nearly a year and a half to get used to me, but it was worth it in the end. After I paid my dues I experienced a truly wonderful buddy who would follow me around the house to check out what I was doing, or chill next to me on the couch while on my laptop or watching TV. Most recently he would be up on my lap moments after I sat down and stayed for hours without budging. Eventually I would extricate myself from underneath his wide girth. He was definitely the best lap-warmer on the cold nights this past winter.

In tribute, here’s a slide show of some of our fondest photos of Benny.

If you would like to write a note or share a story, please submit in the Comments section below. Thanks.