Stefano likes to keep a note of anniversaries, birthdays, and other important events, but sometimes I would really prefer not to be reminded of certain dates. This morning, for example, as I was checking my phone calendar, which I share with Stefano, I saw that six years ago today we had Piccolo, our extraordinary and much beloved 14-year-old male cat, put to sleep.

It hit me…tears…grief…

No matter how much time goes by, it is still hard…

But no, I don’t want to remember the period around Piccolo’s death, or, even less, the terrible day he died, one of the worst in my life.  I want to remember him when he was well, happy, with us (almost all his life).

Piccolo…how funny and smart and loving he was (I have written a bunch of posts about him, incidentally). And sometimes I look at what one of our cats is doing and think “Hey, Piccolo used to do that,” and it really makes me smile. There is a bit of Piccolo in all of them, especially Pandora…

Here is a photo of him…not a great one, but it will have to do…taken in the days before I got a decent cellphone, methinks…

I miss you, my sweet boy…you gave me so much joy…

I’ll focus on that today…amore mio.