Farewell, Old Friend

Some days are easy, and some are plain hard.  Today was a hard day.  Many of you know Cici.  Some of you know that for awhile she's not been herself.  And finally, today came and a decision had to be made.  

In two months, Cici would have been twelve.  I can still remember picking her up from the pet store that many years ago, bringing her home and then devising a way to sneak her into dorm rooms and apartments.  She was my family when my family was so many miles away at home and I knew not a soul in Boston.  

Cici was a true cat.  She mostly liked to keep to herself, and she liked few people on this earth.  She preferred a dark, quiet place to sleep over affection on most days.  And yet she was there for me through so many years of my life filled with all the things that one expects over a decade.  She weathered moves to apartment after apartment, across the country and back.  She tolerated the addition of a husband, then a dog, and two babies into my life.  

The funniest thing about Cici is that despite all her trying, she was eventually won over by a very small little girl.  Cici loved Natalie almost as much as Natalie loved her.  And though I'm heartbroken that my long-time friend is gone, a friend I've known longer than my husband and children combined, I'm more sad that tomorrow and the next day Natalie is going to wonder where her dear friend has gone.  

Where Cici is now, I'm not sure.  I know she's not suffering or hurting anymore.  The pain left is ours, and time will heal us.  In the meantime, we will miss you, Old Friend, and we'll think of you often.