Lucy hasn’t even been gone a month. It feels weird not having her around. She had what they call presence. Torties, in fact, are known for being very sassy cats. She definitely lived up to her “breed.”

As I was telling my mom tonight on the phone, I sometimes feel a bit guilty at how much easier my life is now that she’s gone. Before we found out she had cancer, she was already a high-maintenance kitty. She had digestive issues from kittenhood (she created some very impressive farts when we first got her…VERY impressive) and was eventually diagnosed with irritable bowel disorder and pancreatitis. She’s had numerous visits to the emergency hospital and the vet for episodes and was taking three medications a day.

To make matters worse, she seemed to court danger. She would eat anything that had a string attached, which inevitably set off a bout of pancreatitis, which is what precipitated the majority of those vet trips. Just over a year ago she chewed up and swallowed one of a stretchy cord attached to one of those Rudolph noses that people wear at Christmastime. She ended up in the ER and almost had to have surgery. She pooped it out, luckily, but she was one sick kitty for a couple of days. So the rule in the house was to hide everything with a string. She ate through the mini blind cords, the string that pulled Batman up into Devin’s batcave and my iPhone earbud cord. Seriously. She chewed up the cord and spit it back out into tiny pieces.

And? She would eat ANY greenery that came into our house. No flower or plant was safe from her. I once put a daisy in a vase when she wasn’t looking and stuck it up on the mantle above the fireplace and I came down in the morning to find all of the petals gone. She even ate my fake flowers. I kid you not. They were plastic and had to taste pretty gross compared to the real thing. But she was a goof. A total and complete goof.

So Dev and I were walking Juliette past an empty lot yesterday. It was bursting with dandelions. Happy, sunny dandelions. So we started picking. I loved the little bouquet we came up with. It made me smile. But it also made me a little bit sad. I’d honestly give up the flowers if we could have Miss Sassy Pants back.