Koogie made to something like 18 or 19. He actually had fur worn off of some of his joints, and I had scarfs that weighed more than him. We called him the lich-cat. I miss the old bag of bones.

This is making me sad, because I think my cat is going to die soon, too. I have thought that since I got her, but she seems skinnier and more meowy lately.

My ex's parents' cat lived to 22 and 24, and towards the end they were like decorative cat pillows. They woke up to have a few bites of food and some water and that was it. When the tree went up at Christmas, though, each of them would walk to the tree slowly and with great dignity and whack one ornament.

All sympathies to those that are nearing The Decision for their pets. A good vet can be very helpful in knowing when it's time.

I think it's our greatest failing with our cats. We're so aggressive in seeking treatment that we keep trying even when it's past time to let go.

When the tree went up at Christmas, though, each of them would walk to the tree slowly and with great dignity and whack one ornament.

The proprieties must be observed.

We're so aggressive in seeking treatment that we keep trying even when it's past time to let go.

I agree.

I have not had to make The Decision, which in some ways has been easier but others, I suspect, harder.

Happier news: I forgot I had ordered The Food Lab (J. Kenji Lopez-alt) but it came today. I am excite, may need to cancel all plans for productivity that do not involve cooking.

Oh gosh, crying again. I must be on my period or something.

hugs middle-aged cats

Anna lived to be nearly 21. It was hard, really hard. I got her when I was 16, she was there through a lot and I realized I could have been a better pet owner for her in a lot of ways but she still loved me.

I hate thinking about my brother's dog, she's an awesome dog and my nephew is crazy about her. But she's getting up there in dog years and my nephew has already known so much loss, I just wish I could keep him from losing any other living thing.

Um, I'm not entirely sure if the Natter thread even is the place for this (not that I have any idea where is), and I already apologize that it's once again in a skipping-lots-ignoring-ongoing-conversations-and-poking-my-head-for-a-short-time manner, but it's that time of year again, and, yeah, still in a risk of sounding a bit strange:

On Tuesday evening (as most of you clever people probably already know) starts the Jewish holiday of 'Yom Kippur', which means 'Day of Atonement'.

This is a day of soul searching, of trying to better define our faults to ourselves, and try to accept it upon ourselves to become, at least a little, better people. A day of repenting past wrongs we did, looking and finding it in our hearts to forgive wrongs done to us, and trying to remember to learn from this process in the rest of the days of the year. The holiest day of the year for practicing Jews.

On a rough division, there are two kinds of wrongs people can do: against G-d, and hurting their fellow human beings. In Jewish tradition, if the person committing a sin against G-d is truly sorry for what they did, repenting and taking it upon themselves to try and avoid repeating it, G-d forgives those sins.

The deeds which hurt other people, though, are not so 'easily' and personally forgiven. If somebody did anything to harm another person, they would not be able to cleanse themselves from that deed, no matter how much they'd pray and be sorry and repent and try to do good in the future, unless they make amends with the person who was hurt by that deed. As long as peace between people is not achieved, the 'sin', so to speak, is not 'erased from the books' above.

Regardless of the date in the year, I'd hate to think I'd offended somebody here (or everywhere else, for that matter). I don't think that the attempts of becoming a better person than one already is, is something that needs a date or a certain holiday for it, of course. It's just that, for me, having a certain day in the year to stop my daily runnings around, and think of nothing else but the really important things, is a good reminder of the order of priorities I'd like to have in my life.

So, since Wednesday will be, for me, this day of soul-searching, of trying to create a new start in my on-going effort of 'becoming a good human being, or at least a slightly better one', I would like to ask all of you here, if I offended anybody, or hurt any of you lovely people, to tell me about it, and give me the opportunity to apologize, fix it if possible, and also learn from my mistakes, and try to not repeat them (there are so many new ones to practice, why repeat old ones, you know?).

In case I offended anybody, and can't communicate directly with them about it (for whatever reason, especially with my ongoing absebce from the computer in the last few months), I can already say that I'm truly sorry. I can honestly say that I didn't mean to - you're all so considerate and thoughtful and generally all-around lovely, that there's absolutely no room for such a thing here. However, I might have had a slip of a keyboard, or mistaken somebody's intentions, or many other possible so forths. Y'all are so understanding, you probably tried to find excuses for me and didn't take offense anyway, but I want to make sure, all the same.

Please don't get me wrong - I'm definitely not trying to go around in a 'holier-than-thou' show off, or force my personal beliefs on others, or make statements which may be understood as criticizing anybody else's beliefs (or lack thereof) and way of living. If anything, being around here, among such a rich versatile group of kind and clever people, has exposed me to a lot more ways of choosing to lead one's life than I've ever had a chance to see before, and has shown me much more of the beauty and richness that is the world we live in.

[Edit: this is especially true this year, with my oh-so-short computer time and internet access, which gave way for too many opportunities to unintentionally miss stuff or seem to ignore (undeliberately!) people or their posts. Even the one thing I tried to maintain posting, their birthdays, didn't work (and I don't even have any excuses for that. I mean, yeah, I get less and less time in front of a computer, but for fully two weeks now — since my regular phone started making scary I'm—getting—broken sounds each time I dared attempting using it, I'm trying to get used to a phone which is able to talk to that internet thing, so we'll see how that works).

Sometimes in absence you can hurt people just as much as when you're present. Or even more so, only differently. And at the same time, you guys are always so there-for-anybody-who-needs (including little me - even when I don't get to get to the computer, I still know that you're there, that no matter what, if I ask, you're there for me, even after all my absence and lack of giving back).

So this is a chance to also post: Thank you.]