One of the many, many things about Franklin that made him special was his vivacity, the way he took an intense interest in his environment, always with a playful, curious attitude. I don’t know how exactly to say it other than he had a zest for life. This was immediately apparent to pretty anyone he met. I don’t think he ever had a day where he thought, hm you know what, I’d like a low key day where I don’t really get up to anything. No, every day with Franklin involved some kind of exploration or new game or adventure.

In a way it was an ADHD-like kind of attitude, especially when he was a kitten. He could never sit still and would do these tours of the two rooms in our 1-bedroom where he would do a circuit around the room, first across the windowsill, then the TV stand, and then across the bookcase. He’d check out everything on this, the plants, and notice anything that was new or had been moved. He loved when Anna would rearrange things in our apartment, which was frequent since we do a lot of redecorating.

Living with Franklin was a constant series of new things, and he was so so determined when there was a new item or even a new box, to give it as much of a look over as he could. I guess this is a kind of curiosity but when I mean a zest for life I mean that he threw himself into everything, from playing with the toys he had to sleeping. He would fall asleep in the most outrageous places, or fall asleep while being propped up by our hands, so he would fall off if we didn’t keep holding him up.

I don’t know if he also felt or knew that he had limited time, but he certainly lived like every day was the only one he would have. If he was a college kid his motto would have been “Play hard, play hard” since he absolutely would have never worked a day in his life.

He ran our house and was the star of every room that he was in, even when he went to another place. When he stayed with my parents, he made friends with their very skittish cat and when he stayed with Anna’s parents he was the terror of the dogs.

He loved people and I think he loved us particularly. I miss him so much.