photo: That's Ringo up there...he really liked playing in boxes.
I don't want to be a downer but 2015 was a pretty lousy year for us. Yes, there were some great moments however, we lost a lot of loved ones this past year or so. I lost my father to cancer. My wife's grandmother passed away. Last Christmas (2014) we lost our beloved cat Simba to kidney failure. Yesterday we lost our cat of seventeen years, Ringo, to old age.
Ringo joined our family three weeks after our wedding in July of 1998. He was our first baby. He was a beautiful cat. He was pretty crazy for the first couple of years before he finally settled into a regal maturity that defined most of his life. He was very social and liked to come out and visit with those who came to our house as guests. He was gracious to the new cats that joined our household along the way. When Simba joined our family in 2002 Ringo was very accepting. And this past July he welcomed our newest kitten Athena in a friendly manner.
I never thought I'd grow so attached to pets. But when you have an animal in your life for so long they really do become a part of the family. Ringo was just a few months shy of eighteen years old. He lived a good long life and brought us a lot of happiness.
So for us, the new year starts today. We are putting all those tragedies in the 2015 column. We really hope that 2016 can go a bit easier on us as far as losing loved ones.
