Month: March 2024

A year ago today, our hearts were broken. Saying goodbye to our sweet boy, Smoke, was devastating. It’s always that way when you lose a pet.

We adored all the cats we had through the years – as noted in one of my previous posts here – but when it came to Smoke, the loss hit us especially hard. We could never quite put our finger on it, but there was just something different – something special – about Smoke. 

I used to say he must have been a puppy in another life because he was so much more affectionate than the other cats we’d had. He was extremely skittish around other people, but when it came to me and my husband, he absolutely loved being on one of our laps or in bed with us. If we were too busy to accommodate him, he’d often sit and watch what we were doing — frankly, I think he liked to supervise — or he’d curl up and nap nearby so he could still be close to one of us. And when we’d return from being gone for any length of time, he’d unabashedly let us know how much we were missed. 

The amount of joy he brought to our lives was immeasurable, and a year after his passing, we still feel the void. It’s been particularly tough for me the past several months because I decided to take my aunt’s advice and write a book about Smoke. Doing so has kept his life — and our loss — front and center. I’ve cried more during this time than I did right after he died. But no matter how raw I’ve felt, I’m so glad I listened to my aunt. Reliving parts of our life with Smoke has been bittersweet…heart-wrenching and wonderful, all at the same time. 

The book, Smoke – A Cat’s Tale, is finally finished and has been released into the world. While it’s fiction, there’s a lot of truth scattered throughout, and I think it paints a pretty good picture of what Smoke’s life was like. At least that’s the way I heard it when he was whispering in my ear as I pounded away at the keyboard. 

I hope you’ll consider reading the book and spending a little time getting to know Smoke and his friends. The link below will take you to it, and if you have Kindle Unlimited, you can read it for free. It’s not a kid’s book; it’s merely a story where most of the people in it aren’t actually people. And even though it’s sad in places, don’t worry…it really does have a happy ending. 

My one wish is that this book will do a proper job of honoring Smoke’s memory. It’s the very least I could do for such a beloved boy.