It’s been a busy week at our house – lots of happenings for our family, especially the little one.

First, there was a lunch date on Saturday with Mommy & Daddy ~

And manicures with Mommy.

Then, there was pumpkin carving with our neighbors on Sunday evening (Big Girl was in on the carving but I didn’t get a picture of her)

And then a field trip on Thursday to the planetarium~

And then finally trick-or-treating with our friends ~

And now we are all exhausted and ready for the weekend.

Last night, my sweet Scooby cat – my companion of 21 years – went to Kitty Heaven.

She had been declining rapidly in the past few months and even more so in the last two weeks. So much so that she had become paralyzed in her lower back and back legs. And while I am glad that she is no longer suffering and will finally be at peace, I’m really going to miss her.

Scooby was one of those scrawny little kittens we adopted at the humane society – she was a gift from SuperMan and looked like this tiny little rat with big ears, big gold eyes and not much else.  She used to run around the house, scooting across the floors as fast as her little kitten feet would take her.  (Which is where she got the nickname Scooby.  Her real name was Gabriella Pussycat)

She was the senior kitty in the house for a long time. Putting up with a lot of new feline and canine additions with grace and dignity.  She would look at the newcomers like, “Seriously? Another one?!”  but she always accepted them into the fold and taught them who was the boss and who would and wouldn’t accept their playful attentions.  Our giant puppies learned to back away carefully when she walked through the room – giving the matriarch the respect she was due.

As she neared her twentieth year last year, SuperMan and I knew that we were living on borrowed time with our Scooby cat.  She had slowed down considerably and the age was showing in her fur (white appearing in the black) and in her increasingly diminishing activity levels.  In the past six months or so she had really begun to decline. She had “spells” (I think they were seizures) and began to lose the use of her back legs.  The past month has really seen a rapid decline.  We braced ourselves and the girls for what we knew was to come.

Last night, my sweet kitty finally went to her rest.  While I’m sad and my lap is cold and my house a little quieter today, I am at peace because I know SHE is at peace.

Superman, the girls and I are trying to remember the good days and the snuggles and love we got from and gave to our Scooby girl.  It’s especially hard because she was our last kitty.  My Gracie cat left us right after Labor Day.

Hug your creatures close, folks.  Love them while you can.

We are so fortunate to have these creatures with us in our lives who love us unconditionally, expecting nothing but our love in return.  They trust us with their lives and in turn give us so much.

This is the first time, I think, in my life (my adult life for sure) that I will be kitty-less.  I’m not quite sure yet what we will do, if anything, about that.  With the big galoots in the house, I’m not sure a kitten would be advisable, but the girls are already campaigning (and have been since Gracie died) for a new kitty.

I think, right now, I need to grieve and to remember my two girls.  Maybe in a few months we’ll add to our fur family again.

Right now, I’m going to go hug those galoots and be glad they’re here to keep me company today.