Our sweet kitty, Annie, died last night. She was with me/us for 14 years. Thankfully, I can be totally honest when I tell the kids she died in her sleep. This is the first time I've handled the death of a pet as "the mom" (this is where I am in total awe of my own mother). What do you do with a dead cat? Growing up in the country, I had my own "pet cemetary" (which included some chickens raised by hand that I refused to let my father put on the dinner table). But in the city, I had this nightmare that, if we buried her in the backyard, we would wake up to pieces of her strewn across the yard from raccoons, rats, etc. When in doubt, call the vet! Dr. Zastrow is awesome and her office handled the whole thing (cremation) with dignity. Her staff were super to the kids. And, speaking of kids, it's amazing how this process was much more, well, I think complete is the right word. It's wasn't any less sad or easy, but talking through with the kids and going through the process w/them helped me take it a lot better than I expected.
I expect to be sad for a few weeks. Here's some pics of Annie that show her funny personality:
