Mittens Cupcake
Yakomin, a.k.a. "Boy-Boy" passed
away peacefully today at the impressive age of 19. He leaves behind his loving mother, Amy, his
doting aunts Christina and Cathy, his grandparents Lisa & Rich, and a large
extended family that adored him.
Mittens lived a long and happy life, filled with countless
kisses, cuddles, and scratches behind his ears.
In his kittenhood, he quickly learned about gravity after diving off the
second floor of his Woodcliff Lake home down to the family room below. He survived the fall, decisively disproving
the adage that "cats always land on their feet" by landing solidly on
his nose. This resulted in a slightly
crooked, Rocky Balboa-esque profile that he proudly used for "badass
street cred" amongst his housecat contemporaries in the years that
followed.
He was not a fan of "human food" unless it was
being actively consumed by a human who did not wish to share it, at which point
he would relentlessly stick his face into whatever vessel was holding the food
in order to inspect it properly. Vanilla
frosting, hot coffee, ramen noodles, and bagels with cream cheese were
particularly unsafe in his presence. He
was also known to enjoy a roll on the floor with a catnip toy now and again,
but always knew his limits and never overindulged.
To fully understand what a fixture Mittens was in the
Yakomin Family household, one must consider all that he witnessed during his 19
glorious years of life. When he was born
on April 4, 2000, the Twin Towers still graced the NYC skyline, the average cost for gasoline was $1.26 a
gallon, and President Bill Clinton was serving his final year in the Oval
Office. On the home front, Amy was still a few weeks shy of her 4th birthday,
Christina was 5, and Cathy was not even born yet. During his lifetime, he shared in every important
milestone, from Baptisms and Graduations to Driver's Licenses and College
Acceptances. Through it all, Mittens was there, reminding us that no matter what
was going on in our lives, he was not particularly impressed by any of it.
Officially adopted on June 10, 2000, he became the first of
many pets to join the Yakomin household, and with each new addition, it became
his mission to outlive every single one of them. In this, he succeeded.
Mittens was predeceased by his hamster siblings Melissa,
Squeaky, Cinnamon, and Berry, fire-bellied toads Emily and Elizabeth, guinea
pig Crystal, sister-cat Tiger, brother-dog Scooter, and as Mittens was often
fond of saying, "so many damn tropical fish it was never worth learning
any of their names, quite frankly."
His hobbies included eating, sleeping, relaxing, eating,
watching TV, using the litterbox as soon as company arrived, eating, and
alerting everyone within a 5 mile radius when his food bowl was empty. In his prime, he tipped the scales at 16
pounds, eventually becoming so overweight he took to simply ripping out stray
clumps of fur and spitting them on the floor in large piles, as the elaborate
stretching involved with grooming oneself proved cumbersome and, in his opinion,
gratuitous.
He did not fear the vacuum cleaner, never swallowed pills no
matter how cleverly they were disguised, and enjoyed taunting the birds outside
with a hard stare while making a creepy clicking sound. He found laser pointers entertaining and
spiders delicious. He avoided movement
as much as possible, and shifted couch position only when necessary.
Most of all, Mittens was a steady and constant presence of
love and devotion for his family members for nearly two decades, and his loss,
though not unexpected, is heartbreaking for us. The depth of our grief at his
passing is exceeded only by the enormous love we had for him, the limitless joy
he brought to our family, and the enduring blessing that his memory will bring
in the years to come.
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