My Piccolo

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…

My Piccolo

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.

We grieve alone

This morning we took Peekaboo, our 14-year-old kitty with an inoperable sarcoma, to the vet clinic for the last time.

She’s in a happier place now, so I hope, at least. A place with no pain.

Stefano and I grieve alone.

Those of our friends who don’t have animals in their lives just don’t understand our grief…they don’t understand the intense love that we have for our furry companions. And yet losing a cat can be as difficult as losing a human companion, according to this Cornell University article: https://www.vet.cornell.edu/departments-centers-and-institutes/cornell-feline-health-center/health-information/health-topics/grieving-loss-your-cat

Keshé, Puzzola, Piccolo, Priscilla, and Peekaboo are all gone now.

My heart is heavy today.

Peekaboo. My strong, beautiful, curious, tough girl. Who is going to head butt me now? Who is going to greet me when I come home and give me a long list of all the things that happened during my absence (she was such a talker…)?

Who?

I will miss you so much, sweetie.

Much love.