It’s Furious Balancing

I came home from work at lunchtime on Friday to spend the rest of the afternoon with Gregor. We sat on the sofa, him sleeping and me knitting and watching The Two Towers and The Return of the King. When I’m depressed, sick, or out of sorts, I put The Lord of the Rings movies in the DVD player. ¹ I hadn’t really planned on watching both films all the way through, but there was a scene between Gandalf and Pippin in The Return of the King that I had to watch yesterday. ²

During the battle of Minas Tirith as the trolls and orcs are trying to break down the door to the second level of the city, Gandalf and Pippin have a discussion about death and dying:

Pippin: I didn’t think it would end this way.

Gandalf: End? No, the journey doesn’t end here. Death is just another path — one we all must take. The gray rain curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass. And then you see it.

Pippin: What, Gandalf? See what?

Gandalf: White shores, and beyond. A far green country under a swift sunrise.

Pippin: Well, that isn’t so bad.

Gandalf: No. No it isn’t.

I wanted to have this in mind when we took Gregor to the Ann Arbor Cat Clinic this morning. It would be a comforting thought to hold onto when I said goodbye.

A sunny, cold morning. I didn’t put him in his cat carrier until we were at the clinic; that would have been too traumatic for the poor boy. I held him in my lap with his purple polar fleece blanket to keep him cozy. He had been so weak and tired the past few days, so he sat still. No, not quietly, but still. Even his meowing was weak and tired.

At some point on the way to the clinic, The Husband mentioned that he had Me and My Shadow from Time Bandits playing in his head.³ So, of course, I had to sing it to Gregor.





This is how I want to remember Gregor’s last day. Sitting in the sunny spot on my lap, wrapped up in his “binky” with his Mama singing to him.

My and my shadow, strolling down the avenue (avenue, avenue, avenue)

Yes, the movie imagery from this is much different from Gandalf’s “far green country” speech, but I think it’s more fitting for Gregor and me. He always was my little shadow.

When it’s twelve o’clock we climb the stairs

We never knock ’cause nobody’s there…

1. I own all three movies, each in the theatrical release format and the extended edition format with all the extra scenes added back in. Watching the second and third movies together is about 7 hours worth of movie. [↩]
2. There were many, many scenes in the third movie I had to see yesterday. The lighting of the Beacons of Gondor. The charge of the Rohirrim at Minas Tirith. Eowyn and Merry’s bitch-slapping the Witch King of Angmar into the middle of next week. [↩]
3. I had watched the movie earlier this week, hoping to help myself feel better. It’s one of my favorite movies. I think its dark humor and utter irreverence has something to do with it. [↩]

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 8th, 2007 at 2:46 pm and is filed under Quotes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.