The End of an Era

This week was a very sad week in the Hanson household as we had to put down Lucy--our almost 23 year old cat.

Lucy has been in my life longer than most anyone beyond my core family. From the moment we found her stranded in the gutter and begged and pleaded to my Grandma Sherry to take her in (which totally worked), she won my heart.

Her little smoosh face stayed young through her old age.

She was not keen on Nate moving in with me when we lived in our apartment. Whatever room Nate was in, she was in the opposite room. Fast forward 5 years, and they were fast friends with morning 'love' sessions. Recently, Lucy was a little peeved that my belly was too big and not teh perfect 'resting pillow for her' and she even opted to lay on Nate during our regularly scheduled night-time snuggle sessions.

She perservered through me dressing her in Cabbage Patch Doll clothes when I was about 8. Lived through a house full of doggy-visitors. Many trips back to Viroqua where she set up shop in Hotel Ekern.

She even had her own special 'trick' which involved using her paw to grab single pieces of food off of my Grandma's garbage can (very advanced I know...but she is a cat and had a trick..come on people--this is impressive).

Losing a pet is never easy. But for me, I guess I have always viewed Lucy as a little piece of my Grandma, sticking around to make sure that I was doing alright and watching over me. So I guess I will view Lucy's passing as a nod from my Grandma that we are doing alright, and she really just wanted to stick around to meet Matilda.

And through all the sadness of losing a pet, that thought makes me happy and warms my heart.