My mother's friend's cat just had kittens. It was like fate. When I needed him, there he was, being born. I picked him out and saw his enthusiastic energy from the day I laid eyes on him. I was always a tech geek, so I named him Circuit. He really lived up to that name. Wherever he could scamper to, he went. If something even sort of looked like a toy, it now belonged to him. The amount of times I had to save him from chewing on wires is insurmountable. I guess he knew he was named after electric currents.

I couldn't go anywhere in my home without Circuit following me. He hated it when I shut the bathroom door... or really any door, for that matter. He would pick and choose which meals he preferred. He would listen to every command I taught him. He learned to start patting me on the arm for attention and food. He never feared his own reflection. He would sneak up on me and ambush me late at night like a prowling lion. He declined beds in favor of boxes. He declined store-bought toys in favor of crumpled heaps of paper.

He was there when I cried. He was there when I broke down completely. The ongoing years grew harder and harder to live through, but not nearly as hard as it would have been had Circuit not been there with me.

Unfortunately, since he was around five years old, he began to show signs of kidney and liver problems. Although I was educated in cat care, I wasn't nearly as well-read on the topic as I am now. However, I still took him to the vet whenever he needed it, and gave him the best food I could afford at the time, which unfortunately wasn't much.

I moved in with my partner, and eventually we married. Circuit only really tolerated him. I tried to get them to make peace, but it just wasn't meant to be. He was my baby, and mine alone.

My husband and I both struggled with depression, but cats were our therapy animals for a very long time. When his furbaby passed away, he made a page on this very site dedicated to her. I wouldn't have even known this place existed if it wasn't for that. I made sure there was a resting place for her ashes and a frame for her photo. Just on the date of her passing, two new furry family members were born, and we didn't even know it yet.

Two months later, we adopted Sebastian and Olivia, those same two cats.

My husband died just last November. And now, with his passing, my oldest boy has also left me. Although I'm in a terrible era of my life filled pain and hurt, anger and sadness, my devotion to my other two fur children is unmatched, as they will always have someone to play with, and a forever home to live in.

It was large cats that taught me about the Great Circle of Life. It was cats that taught me to appreciate everyone, even in their lowest moments. It was cats that taught me toughness and strength. And most importantly, cats taught me peace and serenity. To pet my cats means that for now, everything is okay. Even if one passes, another one fills the room with love and warmth in the way dogs or other pets could never grant me.

Circuit, I will miss you dearly. I will miss BOTH of you. The hole in my heart can never be filled, but it can be healed with the two beautiful souls that now depend on me, and I will never let them down.