Our thoughts go out to Cynthia Sarkes and William Greenwalt on the death of Layla, their beloved 19 year old Domestic Short Hair cat. Layla has a very unique adoption story that will melt your heart. William had a friend that was stopping over to the house for a visit with her little dog along by her side. This was back when William and Cynthia lived in Maryland and there were colonies of stray cats around their neighborhood. When William's friend went to leave..instead of the dog jumping into the truck, it bound after the bushes across the street. Low and behold a tiny grey, what William thought was a squirrel shot out of the bushes and straight up his pants leg into his arms. You could say he caught her from the hot pursuit of the dog! Ever since that day Layla was their furever baby and found her way straight into their hearts. At the time they had a yellow Labrador named Rocky who immediately took to parenting tiny Layla. He licked her until she was sopping wet (a proper bath) and then they jumped up onto the couch together, curled up and went to sleep for hours. Like it was just meant to be. In Rocky's elder years, he had trouble getting up and especially down the stairs..Layla was there by his side and she would guide him step by step any time he was coming down the stairs. She would go to the step he was about to step onto before he did so, Cynthia and William had never seen anything like it before and thought it was comical that if he did fall she wouldn't be able to stop him and they would both tumble- but that never stopped persistent Layla. She was always there for moral support. They were truly a bonded pair, best friends. Layla was a feisty girl who loved to go after the laser pointer toy and would literally climb the walls to get to it. She loved the outdoors and wandering in the woods with William and Cynthia as their property backed up to woods and they would go on long walks. Layla just acted as a dog would and would follow them throughout the entire walk. She didn't prefer to hunt but did like to stop along the way to climb a tree or play with something. Layla was also a world traveler as Cynthia and William moved to South Africa for their jobs a few years and she came too! She flew from Maryland to Amsterdam and then finally to Johannesburg, South Africa where she would spend the years there too. At first, Layla was unsure of the change and stayed under the covers of the bed for many months. She would only come out to eat and then finally they had enough and took the covers away..she adjusted immediately like nothing had happened and even got brave in her years. Layla loved to chase what they call "go away birds" from the yard that were huge! Layla didn't care that they could probably carry her off from the yard because she was the protector and made sure that they left but stayed out of their sight once they were in flight. Such a clever girl. Layla loved Fig Newton's and could hear the package being opened from any floor of the house and would come running. She also loved pancakes. This unique and fesity girl will be greatly missed, but forever remembered and cherished in Cynthia and Williams' hearts.
To send flowers
to the family or plant a tree
in memory of Layla Sarkes-Greenwalt, please visit our floral store.