COLUMN: Loss of pet teaches important lesson
I lost someone incredibly important to me on Monday.
No, it wasn’t a family member, my fiancé David, a close friend or a Kappa Delta sister.
My cat Raisin, who was somewhere around 8 or 9 years old, was taken from this world to a better place.
I cried. And cried. And cried.
Raisin was more than just a cat; she was my friend.
Although I am trying not to dwell on the negative aspect of her passing, I can’t help but feel sad.
This is going to sound corny, but every time I leave my house in Layton to come back to Logan, I always pet my animals — my family also has another cat named Otis and a bulldog named Bruiser — and tell them how much I love them.
I didn’t do this Sunday.
I’m lucky. I believe that Raisin knew how important she was to me and how much I loved her.
What if she didn’t know, though? What if I had never told her?
With Raisin’s passing, she taught me perhaps the greatest lesson of all. Too often we don’t tell people how we feel because we think they already know.
I drove home Wednesday afternoon and immediately told my family and pets how much they meant to me. I wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass me by.
Tuesday afternoon my fiancé sent me a forward. Although I usually discard them, this one hit close to home.
“Suppose one morning you never wake up. Do all your friends know you love them? I was thinking I could die today, tomorrow or next week, and I wonder if I had any wounds needing to be healed, friendships that needed rekindling or three words needing to be said.
“Sometimes, ‘I love you’ can heal and bless.”
Another comforting thought I’ve had this week is that I’m not alone. We all have stories about what happened to our beloved pet and how we dealt with it.
We all remember the good times, and deep down still expect to see our friend in their usual hangouts.
I’m still going to look for Raisin under my bed sleeping on my shoes.
I’m still going to sit at the computer and call for her to lie on my lap while I play “Snood.”
I’m still going to open a can of wet cat food and expect to split it two ways.
The bottom line — Raisin will always be with me.
Julie Ann Grosshans is a senior majoring in print journalism. She’s excited to spend the summer in Reading, Pa. for an internship but is still trying to deal with the idea of being so far away from those she loves.