A Heartbreaking Loss

I held out hope, for almost three weeks. Probably, 2 weeks longer than I should, but I finally have accepted a reality.

Our beloved cat, Ceiba, is gone. It happened on December 28th. It has become the norm over the past three years, for us to let the animals go into the backyard for awhile to meander, chase butterflies, etc. Cats included. Ceiba is our adventurous cat. She can scale a fence quite proficiently, and sneak into the tiniest of cracks.

In fact, when I was prego with KT, we lost her for 9 hours one day. Turns out she just spent time under our little porch in the backyard.

So Jeff was home with KT, the week that she had a respiratory virus. He let the cats out, and aired out the house in the process. Later that night, we noticed no Ceiba. This is our lap cat, folks. Our lovey cat. The one whom notices you are having a bad day and knows just the right amount of purrage to crank out to make you feel better. She's also the "baby" before the actual baby, who had grown accustomed to our affection. She was a biter. But a lover as well.

We waited two days to see if she'd come home. The amount of times that Jeff and I both checked the back porch to see if she had returned has to come close to a world record. Fliers went up. We were convinced someone had her in their homes. No dice. Not one call. We tore the house apart. No cat. We ripped up the back deck. No cat. We pieced the back porch back together again.

KT was sick for about 5 days. Then the following week she had a stomach bug. Then we had the stomach bug. I've been unable to grieve for our loss. But as things have started slowing down, her presence is missed beyond belief.

It's amazing how close we get to our animals. They really are our children. I mean, don't get me wrong, there are limits. But I am an animal lover, and so I have a soft spot for most of them.

Ceiba, if you've passed on, I'll see you again one day. If you're with another family or out in the wild, I hope your happy. I know you know how to take care of yourself and I thank God I never had you declawed for this exact same reason. If you want to come home, we're here. I've heard stories of cats gone missing for weeks, even months. Are you one of those stories, Ceibs?

We miss you.