Calvin and Hobbes

I am a pet person. I like pets. In fact I love them like a part of my family. It's like the godfather. You come after him, you come after the family. I'd go to the mattresses for my "boys."

This past Sunday evening, my husband and I had the saddening and emotionally exhausting experience of taking out beloved pet cat Calvin to the vet to be put down. Calvin was sick with chronic urinary tract blockages, causing him immense pain and the inability to urinate.

We were faced with the decision to either put him down or continue to let the vet bills mount with expensive surgeries that may or may not help cure his condition. In the end, we opted to save him pain and ourselves from losing our home by putting him to sleep.

That was the hardest decision I have ever had to make, that WE have ever had to make as a couple. Why did we have to make it? Why did God allow us to go through those painful moments? Why is his littermate and brother left without his companion? Why did Calvin have to be sick at all? What if I had done things differently? Did we do the "right" thing?

In the world of "Whys?" we can choose to berate ourselves with questions like these, to second guess and torment oursleves or we can choose to believe that through prayer, God lead us to the right decision and that He is sovreign. He knew that before Calvin and Hobbes were placed into our arms as kittens that this day, Calvey-Poo-Pants would leave us on Sunday evening, less than two years from the time he became our kitty. He knew that his brother Hobbes would be left without a companion and friend to play with while Jeff and I are at work. He knew the pain we would feel, but he also knew the joy we had until the day we lost him.

I choose to believe that my Calvin AND my Hobbes are blessings from the Lord. That while they are here with us, they bring us joy and in the unexpected end, some sorrow, but they are to be treasured.

Depending on your theological perspective, you may or may not believe that pets go to heaven. I like to believe that they do, but I can't tell that it explicitly says that anywhere in God's Word. I had the privilege of being blessed by two little cats and of raising them from kitten-hood to cat-hood. I also had the privilege of being there to hold my little guy when the dear vet who had worked to long to help Calvin, put him to sleep forever.

Jeff and I were there together to hold him and comfort him and to pray that God would take him home to Himself.

My Calvin. We will miss him so.