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On 11/9/2021 at 4:07 PM, PASabreFan said:

My beloved cat, Gus, died yesterday. He was 18 years and eight months old.

That's hardly awesome, but part of the terrible experience of trying to shepherd him to Kitty Heaven was quite awesome.

Because a man I don't know and probably will never see again gave me the greatest gift. And like the giving of some great gifts, he didn't even know he did it.

I had an appointment to take Gus to be put to sleep. It was time, but I didn't think death was imminent. I didn't foresee that even the short drive to the vet, although always stressful, would be so hard it would be a tipping point. Gus died on my front passenger seat, on a favorite fleece jacket he knew as a blanket, in the parking lot, after a few minutes of suffering.

I wanted to keep him in the car as long as possible and had been going erratically in and out of the lobby, not sure if I should wait for the vet to call us or take Gus directly to the euthanasia room. I was in full denial, still thinking it wouldn't hurt to get one last opinion from the vet, still thinking Gus wasn't going to die, at least not right then. But he did, and I wasn't there for his last breath.

That bothered me, and so did his last-minute suffering, which I was doing everything to prevent. I went back in and told the clerk what happened. A man in the corner with his dog surely overheard me. I got a phone number for the local animal crematory and held it together just long enough to get to the door before falling apart.

I got in my car and wept. Stupid social conditioning, but of course I was looking around to make sure no one saw. The man came out and walked in front of me — and he saw. He put his dog in his car, which was parked next to mine, and got in. I glanced over. He was crying, too.

He shared my pain, he eased my burden and he made me feel not so alone in that terrible moment.

Unlike our pets, our hearts are far from perfect. In that moment, though, I believe the human species was at its very best.

 

In 2017 I had to put my cat of almost 20 years down. Man had me and that cat been through a lot together! Lived at a bunch of different places, with different people before I got a house and yard. Then I went down to the human society and picked out Rupert. Wonderful little cat who is just great. Hard to let one go but it is nice welcoming a new cat to my home. 

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36 minutes ago, Eleven said:

I just was gifted 200-level tickets to Friday's game!  And a parking pass, too.  I'm taking my dad.  Really looking forward to it.  Our relationship needs something like this right now.

Fantastic.  Pretty sure will be there w/ my out of town kid as well.

🍺

 

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4 hours ago, Zamboni said:

I used to spend ages doing that back in my student days and we first got Internet access.  Best score I got was a jar of Jelly Belly beans. 

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