Thank you to a little friend for 17 years

As much as I would like to downplay the fact - the truth is that I am a pet lover. I grew up in a household with pets and have continued to have them - until last month.

17 years ago, a calico kitten was adopted by my parents. After my dad died, my mother moved in with me and brought also their two cats to add to the one I already had. In the course of time, the older two cats died of old age, leaving my mother and I with the Calico.

Calicos are a unique breed of cats. They have very defined personalities and often do those things which they choose two. They are very much family cats.

When my mother underwent cancer surgery, our cat sleep on her pillow every night she was gone and when she finally came home from the hospital she curled right up next to her for the enter night. She was in fact her bodyguard - coming upstairs to get me if my mom was having some sort of problem.

When I came home after my heart surgery she became a complete lap cat. And if I wasn't ready for her to climb up on my lap, she would climb up on the arm of my recliner and stare at me until I got her pillow and put in on my lap so she could curl up.

This past February, I knew that age had caught up with her and her extreme weight loss could not be ignored. By middle March she could no longer eat or drink and her breathing had become labored. My parents never believed in euthanizing - they rather went to extreme measures to attempt saving our dying pets. This time, I couldn't put either my little calico or me thought any unnecessary suffering and so I broke Wilkowski family precedent and had our vet end her struggles. It has been almost one month since her suffering came to an end and I still find myself carrying around some guilt for doing so. Pet lovers understand. Others might not.

I had my little Calico cremated and her urn is under my bed - one of her favorite places to curl up.

What a good little cat she was.