The end of an era

Pear trees began to bloom everywhere, only a few days after the passing of my dear old cat Coco. It was only two weeks before her 22nd birthday, and three months before our anniversary of living together. She was deteriorating past few weeks, eating less, and I was buying more and more expensive cat food, but nothing helped. The last thing she ate was a little bit of tuna last Wednesday. Next day she was hardly able to drink water. She was quickly fading. I still kept opening more cans of cat food. Different plates lined her drinking water. She touched nothing. Friday morning, she couldn't get up any more. I alerted my staff that I have to close the restaurant for two days. In the afternoon, she quietly went while I was taking care of some things downstairs. When I went up and touched her body stretched on the couch, the body was still warm. Next day, we took a long walk to take her to Dr. Moscovich on 11th Street to have cremation arranged. He was her first vet since my first apartment in NYC was on 10th Street. So I passed our first apartment, where we played so much running up and down the stairs, chasing a ball, or chasing each other. So she was with me past 22 years, almost all of my days in this town, and she was always there. With Taiyo, the apartment doesn't feel so empty, but it is just so strange not to hear her meow or footsteps anymore. Actually I still hear her. I will for a long, long time.