Hello... To Our Dear Friend Moo
 I want to lie and say Iâm still here... but Iâm not. I want to feel entirely guilty for abandoning the parenting community but I donât. I want to say that I miss... this... but again, I donât. Iâve been away for a while and there have been some changes within this community and within my household. As you can see this picture is very old, old enough to show my then 1 almost 2-month-old daughter, Toto, in her bouncer and our beloved cat, Moo, who passed away in early June.
 This year has been so beautiful and this life has been so beautiful yet so cruel. The night our 14-year-old cat had passed away I spent hours in bed with my preteenage daughter, cradling her and crying with her, trying to explain to her that heâs no longer suffering. Nothing feels worse than hearing your child say âMama my heart hurts! I canât explain it but my heart hurts really bad!â as my other child is lying on the floor, asleep, from crying himself to sleep. I have been told that âHeâs just a cat, you can always get anotherâ but thatâs just a simple lie. Moo wasnât just a cat. Heâs our family. He was Yumiâs best friend and grew up with her as well as my other two children.
Although it was just 3 months ago my heart still aches thinking about him and I find myself questioning the laws of nature asking âWhy?â. Laying in bed at night with my three children I hold in my tears as we sing songs or tell stories as a family about our dear friend Moo. We laugh, we cry, and we pray which Yoshi likes to call it âSending our spiritual letters to himâ, then we sleep. It wasnât until last night that Yumi suggested âMama! Why donât you write about him on your blog?!â, that made me realize she was right. He deserves it, and so do my children. Yumi and Yoshi wrote a few poems for him so iâll close the post out with just that.
Poems To Our Dear Friend Moo:
From Yumi:Â âI love you with all my heart. You were my baby and my friend, you were always there for me to protect me and hug me when I was sad. You looked out for me and made me feel safe when I thought there were monsters under my bed as a kid but it was just you and that made me feel safe. Now that Iâm all grown up and youâre not here anymore mama said youâre going to look out for us and make sure there are no bad guys near. Iâll still visit your permanent resting home at the top of the mountain every week or maybe even every day if mama lets me! And I have a perfect place dedicated to you in my room with your collar, flowers, and name on it! And as long as I live Iâll never let that flower die as a symbol of your love and life. From YOUR dear friend, Yumi Sakuri.â
From Yoshi:Â âYour my friend! I love you forever ever ever and ever. Donât forget me while you're in the spiritual world!â (Disclaimer: He said more but I couldn't understand his writing.)










