Today I said goodbye to my beautiful cat of 20.5 years. My oldest best friend, who slept in my bed every single night without fail as I grew up. Who stayed by my mothers' side constantly as she lay down for weeks on end during chemotherapy times. The lovely brother to our other cat, who died 4 years ago. I can still remember the first time I saw them - their two tiny ginger, furry heads poking up between the flaps of a cardboard box as they surveyed their new kingdom for the first time. I held him as they injected the anaesthesia, and I carried him out to the back garden, laying him down in a grave next to his brother. I covered him with earth by hand - I could never bring myself to consider using a shovel for such a beautiful animal. There is such pain in my chest, it literally feels as though my heart is breaking.
