Another friend is gone...

This has been a very rough night...

Most of you who "tune in" to this blog know that my husband and I are very BIG pet people. Well, tonight, our longtime baby, our oldest cat, Sass, passed away. He's been sick for a while now, with some type of seizure disorder. His last seizure must have brought on a heart attack or something. When Russ came home tonight, he found Sass in the litter box (thank God, it was clean!), and he was curled up, like he was sleeping. But he was gone.

I felt like a heel. I was playing with the kids only six feet away from that room. I don't know what I could have done, but at least I could have comforted him and said goodbye. The kids are okay now. Emma called for Sass for about fifteen-twenty minutes after Russ and Tim took Sass away for burial. When I told Isaac what happened, he cried for a little while, and then he went and held his cat, Babe. That was his refuge, I guess. This is all made doubly hard by the fact that Sass' litter mate, Moe, ran away in May. He's been seen around our neighborhood, but we have yet to bring him home. The other three cats are walking around, like, "Geez, first Moe, now Sass? We better shape up!"

I'll miss you Sass. You made me work at being a member of this family when I first fell in love with your daddy. But you became a little love, and I'll miss feeling your purr against my legs at naptime. Tell everyone at Jesus' house that we said hello, and that we love them, too. I know that Little Bit, Snoopy, PeeWee, Grandma Pat, Grandpa Ron, and lots of others were there to meet you, holding cans of tuna & oil in their hands. I love you, sweetie.

I'm looking for a picture of Sass to publish. That's coming soon. He was eleven years old, and he was beautiful.