What the cat brought in

I keep thinking he'll be there when I come out of the bedroom in the mornings, or that he's sitting just out of my eyeline.

- Russell Brown

The other night, my brain actually fooled me into seeing him in the corner of my vision. But no, he wasn't there. Colin is gone.

One doesn't want to get too dramatic about the death of a cat, even one who lived just short of 20 years. I cringed a bit when someone on Facebook made a sympathetic comment about losing "a family member". Because, take it from one who knows, it is not the same thing as losing a human family member. I cringed harder when Americans on Bluesky kept telling me he was now my "guardian angel" and would meet me at "the rainbow bridge".

Nonetheless, I think the boys and I feel that another part of the life we all lived together has disappeared. Things are not as they were for so long. We are recalibrating, again, and it's an unsettling feeling.