by Margaret Loring
(Marlborough, MA)
Five years ago on this (2010) Mother's Day I lost a sweet little friend named "Pippy" who had come to our front door one October night four years previously. He was a very healthy four and a half year old cat and the vet called to tell me how healthy he was and that he'd had his fur trimmed and would be available for pick-up in a couple of hours.
Ten minutes later the vet called to say he was gone, as he had stopped breathing while recovering from the anesthesia. Just the night before he had hugged me (it was Mother's Day then) in a way he had never done before. It was as if he was saying good-bye. Here is the poem I wrote: