Wednesday

The sun came out this morning. The ground is still rather mushy, and I was going to wait until the afternoon to let the cats out, but this morning as I watched Coco go to the kitchen sliding-door, I decided to let her go, with Sammy and Ash quickly following suit. I had been debating whether I should let Coco go. She is able to walk around a little still, and there is the fear that she might manage one trip over the fence but not make it back. Then, there is the selfish thought that she might go ahead and die-out elsewhere, which would spare me a lot of emotional torment. In the end, I hope it was the positive thought that won my debate: that I could not deny her the enjoyment of the outdoors, to be out in the sun and on the fresh earth. As it turns out, we got what is perhaps the best outcome. She walked around on the patio for a few minutes, absorbing the cool sunny morning with all its fallen leaves, and then came back inside, and back behind the couch in the big room. She seems to have finally learned, at last, that this is her safe place, her home.