Closing and opening chapters

Well, here we go - finally launching into the blogoshpere to share our news with friends and family! It's something Chaat and I have talked about doing for months, mostly with the intention of keeping people in the loop about growing our family. For those of you that may not already know, we are in the process of adopting a child. Naturally people have many questions about how it all works and what the time lines are, so this seemed like the simplest way to impart that information.

But before talking about growing our family, I just want to share that we lost a family member; we had to say goodbye to our beautiful 16 year-old cat Latte yesterday morning. I've had her since she was 6 weeks old, so she's been with me for most of my adulthood. Chaat has known her for 10 years and we both loved her so immensely. Needless to say, we are grieving and will miss her tremendously. Of course those of you that have cat allergies are probably breathing a secret sigh of relief right now, but realize that you no longer have an excuse for not coming over! ;-)

Latte became sick fairly suddenly and when I noticed that she hadn't eaten for a few days I took her to the vet, did a blood panel and UA and found out that she had a UTI and extremely elevated liver enzymes. We were then faced with difficult decisions about various treatments vs. euthanasia, which was tortuous. I've never had to euthanize a pet before, but that is what we decided to do for various reasons (I'd be happy to explain to anyone who is interested) and it was extremely difficult, but ultimately peaceful. I truly think it was the best thing for all 3 of us and despite our sadness, we also feel relieved. We spent a good part of yesterday digging a grave for her in a spot in our backyard where she used to like to sit. We feel comforted by having her here, still close to us.

Latte was an amazing cat, the best I've ever had, and I grew up with several in the house. She was funny, adorable, gregarious, obedient, playful, and of course, flirtatious. I laugh remembering her quirky 'bonking' with furniture, her fetish for leather shoes and bags, and her silent meow. I already miss talking with her and the house is strangely quiet. So, it's been a somber weekend, but we feel certain that Latte is in kitty heaven and has been relieved of much discomfort. We'll post about adoption stuff next time when we're re-juiced.