Today marks two years since we had to put our family cat down after having him in our lives for 18 years. We got him when he was just a kitten, I was around 2 years old. Yet I remember the day we brought him home, how he ran out of the travel case and hid on a chair under the kitchen table. From that moment on he was a member of our family. 

He was special in many ways, he never really like anyone outside of our immediate family, except for my grandmothers and their black purses. He knew that there was always candy for him in those purses. But he resorted to us four in the family, and he went from a young and feisty cat to a cuddly old man. 

Moving to my own place in 2018 was difficult, not getting to see him everyday and constantly worrying that I would miss the chance of saying goodbye to him. I think he lived much longer than anyone of us thought he would, we were worried several summers while going on vacation that something would happen while we were gone, or that it would be his last summer with us. But he always managed to stay healthy another year. Until two years ago that is.

I was at work when my dad came to get me, he only had to look at me and I knew exactly what was going on... My parents had already talked to my boss so it was alright for me to leave work so I could come to the vet. First we went home, where he was wrapped in a blanket, he didn't meow at me like he usually did, but still seemed happy to see me. We brought him to the vet and well.. the rest is history. He was surrounded by love and family into his last moments and he was no longer in pain. 

Some people say "come on, it's just a pet", but the loss of a pet can bring the same amount of grief as losing a person would. In 2017, the New England Journal of Medicine actually reported that after her dog died, a woman experienced “broken heart syndrome”, a condition in which the response to grief is so severe the person exhibits symptoms that mimic a heart attack, including elevated hormone levels that can be 30 times greater than normal.

So today, I'll allow myself to feel sad, to feel happy about the time we got together, to look back at old photos, to remember him as the sweet and loving cat that he was. ♥