You have now been missing for three weeks. Each time I leave and return home, I hope, and will continue to hope, that you will be at the garage door to greet me, but I know the likelihood diminishes with each day. As much as it pains me, I have to accept that you are likely gone and I wanted to thank you for a wonderful five-and-a-half years.

I was a dog person before you arrived. I still am, but you made me a cat person too. I loved you even when you scratched the furniture, climbed onto the tables, attacked the plants, or hid under the Christmas tree.

I gave you the middle name of MacArthur after the famous general. (I know history did not interest you, but my Rainbow Bridge friends need to understand the context.) During World War II, General Douglas MacArthur withdrew American forces from the Philippines following the Japanese invasion. He left the islands but confidently declared "I Shall Return." Whenever you (Tiger) left the house to go outside and patrol the neighborhood, I always felt you were saying to me "I am leaving now, but I Shall Return." You did so up until that Friday morning.

Nothing about that day suggested it would be the last time I saw you. I wish so badly that I would have had the chance to say goodbye, but perhaps because I do not know why you insisted on (largely) living with me, it is fitting that I do not know what happened to you.

If you are now on the Rainbow Bridge, I hope you went there quickly. If you have found Sadie, I hope you are a little more accepting of her. Just as I will always associate Thanksgiving with her, I will now always equate you with Christmas.

I miss the cuddles, the nose bumps, brushing you, feeding you, petting you, and those evenings together on the patio. I have cried each day since you have been gone. As more time passes, I may not cry as often but that does not mean I love you any less.

I hope you know that I believe I did everything I could to try to find you. I will always hold on to that glimmer of hope that you will be MacArthur again. If it is months or even years before you shall return, the garage door will be open, your bed will be ready, and I will be elated to go to the store for food and the "good stuff."

I will always love you, Tiger, and you are forever in my heart. From now on, whenever I look up at the stars I will think one of them is Tiger, Tiger, Shining Bright.