[Gpdd] RAINBOW BRIDGE: Garfield the cat

[GARY HESS]

I had to take our seventeen-year-old kitty to the vet so he could be freed from a body than no longer worked. He was crying in the car, his skin and bones body probably getting jostled unmercifully. He was scared at the vet's. He didn't want to be there. Fortunately, there weren't a lot of barking dogs to make things worse. I wanted him to die peacefully at home, but he was getting too miserable, so I had to take the other route. I couldn't bear to watch him go. He didn't need to see me upset; it would've just scared him. The one comfort is that beyond the shadow of a doubt, I did the right (not easiest) thing.
We're down to one cat (middle-aged) and one piggie (ancient), and more koi, goldfish, plecos, and guppies than we can count (of all ages, many of them named).
On the happy side, my sister and I have a book signing at our local Barnes and Noble on Saturday. It's a dream come true! Our first book, Molly Takes the Cake, is a PG-rated romantic comedy about a baker in a small northern California town whose fiance is on the east coast taking his sweet time. Chapter titles include: The Trouble with Corduroy Couches, Burgundy Tuxes and Other Humiliations, The Travesty of Uneven Eggrolls, and Beige-colored Flowers in the Chapel of Love. It's nice to have this to look forward to when I'm grieving our dear old man. He's the last remnant of our kids' childhood and will be missed by all. 
Joanie and Puff and Queen Elizabeth the cat, now officially one of The Beautifuls