helwen

She wasn't my child. I've never thought of cats that way, I'm not the type. But she was my friend, my companion, and sometimes my teacher, for nearly half my life. I was not always the best student, but I did try; still trying. We learned a few things from each other, I guess.

I would have made her young again if I could, but of course that is beyond my doing. She will have to seek that in her next life. The best I could do was to let her go, and at least at the last I felt her spirit return to its fullness as she passed from this world into the next. And in truth, she looked more at peace than she has in a little while, no longer feeling the ache of arthritis, regaining in small part the natural grace that had always been hers.

She has left a cat-shaped hole in my heart.