Goodbye Old Friend

Well we knew this day would come sooner then later but it was a sad day today at the Hawley house. We had Leo put down by the vet today. :( The past few years Leo has had it rough and his age really been showing. He was limping, always tired.. often he would stay downstairs at night sleeping because it was too tiring to walk up the stairs. He even let himself go as far as grooming and would let matts form on his hair that we would cut out. And then there is his habit of peeing in the back hallway downstairs which ruined our carpet. I tore up the carpet and he continued to pee there. I tried everything to get him to stop... I even bought some pharamone spray (that cost a fortune) but it only worked for 2 weeks. But alas we just couldn't put up with it anymore and all the reasons added up. I think Darin has known awhile that we needed to do this but was waiting for me to be ready. I told him this weekend we had to do it and that I couldn't take him in.. it would just be too hard for me. Darin volunteered showing his chivalry. I had been preparing Emma for a month or so that if we couldn't fix Leo's bad habit we would need to have him put down. She understood but hoped we would find the solution. Unfortunately we didn't find that solution. Emma had lots of questions. Kate handled it very well.. she said he was old and asked if we could get a new kitty? haha She also thought Leo could play with Juno in heaven. Marie was here cleaning today and said maybe Leo is trying to tell us he's in pain by peeing. That hit home for me and reassured me that we were doing the right thing. I guess I'm looking for anything to justify what had to be done because its a hard decision.

So today when Darin got home from work.. we all said goodbye to Leo. He was of course being super cute. He climbed in the piano basket which is much too small for him. He picked a fight with the dog too. We all laughed and cried inside.

The rest of the evening was quiet. I took Kate to dance and then the girls and I went out for a bite to eat. Darin was frantically busy preparing for his upcoming GMAT test. Christmas has been quiet and has been sticking to me like glue all evening. She would always keep an eye on where Leo was and where I was and trying to keep us all happy. She's so funny.

I have pictures of Leo throughout his 15 years with us. Course my photography abilities were not so great in the beginning. We got Leo a month after Darin and I got married. He lived with us throughout most of it.. but there were a couple of years when we were in collage where he stayed at the Grandparents house. So goodbye old friend.. we will miss your loud demanding meows and your insistence of laying on our pillows at night.