Yesterday

Yesterday, I wrote that the day was so beautiful that for a moment I thought I had the strength to do anything.

As it turns out, I needed that strength.  When I got home yesterday morning and sat down to write, my wonderful fifteen-year-old cat began to struggle.  He had had a bad leg for a month and some other issues that caused him a lot of pain.

The pain became unbearable for him yesterday and though I loved him with a crazy amount of love, I knew that to allow him continuing suffering would be cruel and so I made the decision to have him put to sleep.

There is, of course, an emptiness, a hollowed-out feeling, that accompanies grief.  Something has been taken from you and the wound that is left is jagged and raw and incapable of being filled because the thing that was taken is gone forever.

I struggled with sleep.

I went to church this morning as always to take my pictures.

It was another beautiful morning, large birds soaring in the sky.

I found Snowy, the young bird whose picture I had taken the other day.  He was in the same tree.  And I wonder if he has left that tree yet.

God bless to all.  It seems the holiday season is always filled with some amount of grief whether present or past or yet to come.

Take this time to be filled with family and friends, with the glory that is God.

And if you are a pet owner, please take a moment and hug your pet for me.