Hello, Elau,

I still miss my late red tabby-with-white Maine Coon, Arizona, who passed on at 16.5 years, of which he lived all but the first six weeks with me. He too was a steadfast companion after my divorce (he never liked her anyway -- I guess he was smarter than I was).

If you don't want to keep Emily's ashes, you could scatter or bury them someplace she loved. Arizona, for example, never saw the Colorado mountains. But in his cat heart, I think, he believed he should have been a bobcat (clearly somebody made a mistake at the cat factory, gave him a tail, and sent him to me). So I scattered his ashes under the trees near Winter Park, CO, where bobcats are known to roam.

In return for a small donation, my local Denver no-kill shelter would inscribe a lucite plaque with any message up to 75 characters, and they'd mount it on their entry hall. Arizona's reads, "Arizona, His Lordship, 1983-1999: I handled quarters and rations, you handled the rest." Maybe one of your animal shelters does something like that?

It was true, I had Linda's cat, Marie-Antoinette, to keep me company, and she made it much easier, as did a few sessions with a pet-loss coping group. But I miss him yet.

You'll get through it. You won't forget her, but you'll get through it. Be strong.
.

__________________
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-- Paul W. (The Benzadmiral)
('03 Buick Park Avenue, charcoal/cream)
Formerly:
'97 C230, smoke silver/parchment; '86 420SEL, anthracite/light grey; '84 280CE (W123), dark blue/palomino