Today is a better day. Yesterday was very difficult for me. It would have been Yoshi's 13th birthday. He died last year just two months after his 12th birthday. He moaned and complained for a few days but he was always so dramatic I pretty much ignored him. Then he died. I know he waited for me to get home before letting go. It was so painful for me to watch him struggle with not wanting to go. He was always SO attached to me. I cry now typing this. It's still so hard. I miss him so much.

He was a Maine Coon. I spoke with a friend of mine this weekend who noted that his retriever pups had just reached 24 pounds. I said, almost as big as Yoshi. My friend said, no hun. 24 pounds. I said - didn't you know? Yoshi was 28. My friend lives far away and never knew I had a cat that big.

Animals love us in the most special ways. I don't think I'll every find someone who loves me as much as Yoshi did.