An Ode to Midnight

According to medical records, he was 12 years and one month... But maybe that was when we received him, from a co-worker of my wife. At the time he wanted to be a ninja, as could be seen by his attempts to attack his soon to be adopted brother, Tie. So, that was his name: Midnight "wanna be" Ninja.

And when he was outside, with the our Ladies, he thought he was a ladies man, and would try to get up close to them, but they would always peck the hell out of him. Then he would try to hunt them, but as he got close from his run, he would swerve away, trying to be suave, like he didn't mean to go after them in the first place.

We didn't get him fixed in time, and he apparently really became a lady's man, having some children. Sir Stares a Lot is now Pablo, and is probably still doing well with my friend, @Benjamin Wangberg. But I will have to ask to be sure. And his other two children (Ms. Hissy Fit and Lucky) , we had to let go of in ways that we don't know where or how they are now.

But in the end, he grew fat. After his adopted brother Tie passed, my oldest son, brought him inside, not wanting him to have the same fate. At that point, he didn't really want to go outside too much anyways. But this probably is part of what did him in... Although, it is hard to say. The doctor said his heart was too big. I guess I can believe that, even though, by the end he was quite a curmudgeon.

So we had to make the decision. Try to save him for several thousand dollars, with no assurance that he would live much longer, and with the possibility he would have even great pain, or let him go peacefully. I worked to be strong, to answer the questions of the kind doctor, to do the paperwork, to console my family, and take care of logistics and breaking the news that he was in the hospital.

But I still cried, and am crying now as I write. Remember his body go limp, as he was put to sleep with the overdose of anesthesia. He went gentle, without pain. But we all were sobbing with a deep pain in each of us, around the table with his body. They become our family, no matter how much they piss us off at times, or maybe because of that.... But, I am grieving today, even with the knowledge that this happens to all our four legged children, and all life, including our own. But, I guess with love, there always must be pain when that love is lost.