I put him to sleep yesterday.

I put him to sleep yesterday. My sweet boy for 15 years. He’d come to me from an abusive home. You could see it in how he held himself those first months, like he was always bracing.

But he figured it out. Not all at once but in small surrenders. Picking up a toy. Playing so free. The way he’d eventually push his head under your hand, asking.

I miss him.

If you have a moment, I’d like to hear about your animals. The ones you still carry with you.

I put him to sleep yesterday. My sweet boy for 15 years. He’d come to me from an abusive home. You could see it in how he held himself those first months, like he was always bracing.

But he figured it out. Not all at once but in small surrenders. Picking up a toy. Playing so free. The way he’d eventually push his head under your hand, asking.

I miss him.

If you have a moment, I’d like to hear about your animals. The ones you still carry with you.

@msbellows I knew it. I knew you’d see this post and have the perfect reply. I can’t stop crying I’m sure you know that. Woke up reaching for him. Aubrey is gorgeous and so sweet I’m sure Hemingway would love your baby so much

I put him to sleep yesterday. My sweet boy for 15 years. He’d come to me from an abusive home. You could see it in how he held himself those first months, like he was always bracing.

But he figured it out. Not all at once but in small surrenders. Picking up a toy. Playing so free. The way he’d eventually push his head under your hand, asking.

I miss him.

If you have a moment, I’d like to hear about your animals. The ones you still carry with you.

I put him to sleep yesterday. My sweet boy for 15 years. He’d come to me from an abusive home. You could see it in how he held himself those first months, like he was always bracing.

But he figured it out. Not all at once but in small surrenders. Picking up a toy. Playing so free. The way he’d eventually push his head under your hand, asking.

I miss him.

If you have a moment, I’d like to hear about your animals. The ones you still carry with you.

I put him to sleep yesterday. My sweet boy for 15 years. He’d come to me from an abusive home. You could see it in how he held himself those first months, like he was always bracing.

But he figured it out. Not all at once but in small surrenders. Picking up a toy. Playing so free. The way he’d eventually push his head under your hand, asking.

I miss him.

If you have a moment, I’d like to hear about your animals. The ones you still carry with you.

I put him to sleep yesterday. My sweet boy for 15 years. He’d come to me from an abusive home. You could see it in how he held himself those first months, like he was always bracing.

But he figured it out. Not all at once but in small surrenders. Picking up a toy. Playing so free. The way he’d eventually push his head under your hand, asking.

I miss him.

If you have a moment, I’d like to hear about your animals. The ones you still carry with you.

I put him to sleep yesterday. My sweet boy for 15 years. He’d come to me from an abusive home. You could see it in how he held himself those first months, like he was always bracing.

But he figured it out. Not all at once but in small surrenders. Picking up a toy. Playing so free. The way he’d eventually push his head under your hand, asking.

I miss him.

If you have a moment, I’d like to hear about your animals. The ones you still carry with you.

I put him to sleep yesterday. My sweet boy for 15 years. He’d come to me from an abusive home. You could see it in how he held himself those first months, like he was always bracing.

But he figured it out. Not all at once but in small surrenders. Picking up a toy. Playing so free. The way he’d eventually push his head under your hand, asking.

I miss him.

If you have a moment, I’d like to hear about your animals. The ones you still carry with you.

I put him to sleep yesterday. My sweet boy for 15 years. He’d come to me from an abusive home. You could see it in how he held himself those first months, like he was always bracing.

But he figured it out. Not all at once but in small surrenders. Picking up a toy. Playing so free. The way he’d eventually push his head under your hand, asking.

I miss him.

If you have a moment, I’d like to hear about your animals. The ones you still carry with you.

I put him to sleep yesterday. My sweet boy for 15 years. He’d come to me from an abusive home. You could see it in how he held himself those first months, like he was always bracing.

But he figured it out. Not all at once but in small surrenders. Picking up a toy. Playing so free. The way he’d eventually push his head under your hand, asking.

I miss him.

If you have a moment, I’d like to hear about your animals. The ones you still carry with you.

I put him to sleep yesterday. My sweet boy for 15 years. He’d come to me from an abusive home. You could see it in how he held himself those first months, like he was always bracing.

But he figured it out. Not all at once but in small surrenders. Picking up a toy. Playing so free. The way he’d eventually push his head under your hand, asking.

I miss him.

If you have a moment, I’d like to hear about your animals. The ones you still carry with you.

@flexghost

A lifetime of cats occupy my past, I'm 60 and I've had a cat in my life almost every year since I was 15 or so in 1980. Frodo was the first, my dad was allergic and had asthma so he had to go through a regimen of allergic desensitization to get to the point where he could have a cat in the house. Frodo the magical cat was the result! He was magical because gravity didn't apply to him and we'd find him on top of anything in the house with more than 6 inches of clearance at the top. He would just silently cast himself into tiny spaces up against the ceiling as I remember it!
Magic, I'm fairly certain.

Fast forward through many, many cats to 2005, now I'm newly married, living in Denver, one baby shrieking in the background and we have two cats we'd adopted while living in New Orleans for a year and a half, Grendal and FatCat. We got a call after Katrina from a friend who was displaced by the hurricane who tells us that they got two of their three cats out but weren't allowed to take the third on the flight. They were allowed to return months later but now had a small apartment in LA and were wondering whether they could re home Opal with us via an airport drop-off. Of course they could! Opal had survived Katrina and had no care for something like four months but she was sitting on the front porch of the house when they got through the rubble! Thin as a rail but apparently pleased to see her family again!

Unfortunately Opal had a fungal infection in her lungs and didn't live more than a few months after we took her in. FatCat passed due to an impacted gut and Grendal took on a Toyota truck and lost, all within a year. All of them are buried under flagstones in our back yard.

We're back up to three adopted cats again but I feel each and every cat that I've shared space with in the past. Sometimes I remember that I've forgotten one and as soon as I do, there they are as a group of lovely memories! Like I said, a lifetime of cats. Sorry for your loss.

I put him to sleep yesterday. My sweet boy for 15 years. He’d come to me from an abusive home. You could see it in how he held himself those first months, like he was always bracing.

But he figured it out. Not all at once but in small surrenders. Picking up a toy. Playing so free. The way he’d eventually push his head under your hand, asking.

I miss him.

If you have a moment, I’d like to hear about your animals. The ones you still carry with you.

@flexghost
That sucks...we had to put Cheeto to sleep thanks to kidneys destroyed by a tumor or not even fully developed at barely 2 years old

@flexghost You named your dog Hemingway? I love that! My dad was a huge Hem fan and passed it along. Aubrey was named after a literary figure too: Jack Aubrey, the big and doofy but brave (and long-tellow-haired) naval captain by Patrick O:Brian.

Hang in there, my friend. The love doesn't go away; it's harder to see, but it's still there. Hold to that.

@flexghost

I feel so sad for you, he looks wonderful . . .

I put him to sleep yesterday. My sweet boy for 15 years. He’d come to me from an abusive home. You could see it in how he held himself those first months, like he was always bracing.

But he figured it out. Not all at once but in small surrenders. Picking up a toy. Playing so free. The way he’d eventually push his head under your hand, asking.

I miss him.

If you have a moment, I’d like to hear about your animals. The ones you still carry with you.

@flexghost We had to put Mac, our 15 year old golden retriever, to sleep in November. We had planned on having him put down on the following Wednesday but were unsure if we were doing the right thing. On the Saturday prior, he let us know that it was time to do it earlier. Typical Mac. Took the painful decision off our plate with a smile. His brother Jai, who is a 16 year old german shepherd and retriever mix, misses him but Jai also has dog Alzheimer's so he also is constantly looking for him.

@flexghost I'm so sorry for your loss