Baby Bottle and Brown Cat

My last memory of Tagan was at the front entrance of Bright Spot Daycare, where Sophia goes to daycare along with my 2 year old daughter Samara. Tagan was kneeled down, with a baby bottle in one hand and stroking the fur of a little brown cat with his other hand. His eyes were so calm and had a sense of wonder in them as he looked at Oliver, the neighbor’s brown cat while chatting with Karen, the daycare owner. I was in my normal after work frenzy, picking up Samara, and I remember being amazed at seeing Tagan take a few moments of peace to stroke a cat, that I admittedly have walked past countless times (Sorry, I’m just not a cat person!)

As he stood up to go back home, I asked Tagan where baby Sophia was and he mentioned that she was already back home and he just came by to fetch Sophia’s milk bottle that they had forgotten. I joked that I hoped he wasn’t feeding Tanya’s hardearned breast milk to the cat which he laughed off :)

I’ll miss Tagan’s gift of being able to slow down and take a minute when everything else is moving at 1000 miles an hour. Rest In Peace, dear Tagan.

Monica Jain (Tanya’s friend from Burlingame)

To contribute a page to the memory book, email your words and/or photos to taganmemorybook@gmail.com