A Little Bit of Sadness

Sadly, we lost our friend Button yesterday. Button was somewhere beyond 19 years old, which is pretty old for a pet, and her passing was not unexpected.

Just about 18 years ago, when our daughter was in first grade and on the day of her elementary school Christmas pagent, she caught a cold and was too sick to perform. It was raining hard that day, and toward evening, a black cat came to our back door, crying to come in. At the time, we didn't have any pets, and Hubby was somewhat adverse to adopting one, but when this particular cat was quite persistent about wanting to come in out of the rain and would not go away, he finally relented. For our daughter, a cute, new pet was consolation for missing the pagent. Hubby named the cat Button.

Within about a month, Button got pregnant and, in due course, bore a litter of kittens. That was the first--and only--time the kids and I saw an animal give birth. What a fun experience! But, it was not one we wanted to repeat, so Button took a trip to the vet for a little surgical procedure.

Button was the haughty queen of our household. Even our two rather large dogs knew who was the boss and kept their distance. And Button? She would often go into their dog houses and sit there--just to prove she could.

I took this photo of her about a year and a half ago. Hubby was doing some baking, and when he wasn't looking, she put her face in the container of flour. She seemed rather put out by our laughter, and--unlike Spike who has to be in every photo--Button never really liked her picture taken.

While we're saddened to lose her--particularly at this time of the year--we are grateful to have had Button as part of our family for so long. We have many good and happy memories. We knew she was ailing this past week or so, and Hubby and I talked Sunday about whether this might be the right time to have her put to sleep before she started to suffer. As it turned out, that was a decision we didn't have to make after all. And for that, too, we're grateful. So, yes, we're sad, but not too much. It was just time.