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.
The memories never go. We recently put down our last kitty (he was 18 or 19–found him as a feral in WI and dragged him with us to WA). It was the day before our 30th wedding anniversary (Bastille Day). DH is sick and we will probably have no more kitties. Enjoy the ones you have and enjoy the memories of those that you lost. SO hard.