On a Wednesday in March, mi perro, my mini schnauzer, my mulberry doggy ware model, my Pi Patel, my fur baby underwent an ultra sound due to blood work which revealed high liver enzymes and cholesterol levels.
He was diagnosed with possible liver cancer.
On a Thursday, the following week, mi gato negra, my domestic short hair, my sassy than thou, my Fate, my fur baby had cloudy eyes and visited an ophthalmologist.
Based on the status of her eyes, she more than likely has FIP. 
Can I please dig a hole in the ground, preferably in the backyard, crawl down and hibernate for the next 7 years? Is it okay to randomly scream as loud as possible, opening my mouth and having no sound escape-a silent scream like the figure in the “The Scream“.
I’ve emotionally held up owners or held their fur babies paws during a euthanasia for the past three years. I wonder who the hell will offer the same support to me?
No one.
Because I Will Not Let It Happen.
Grieving is personal and I protect myself intensely.
I grieved for my father alone.
Silently crying at night, reeling from the pain of losing a parent to trying to feel the pain my father endured throughout his life. Accepting the pain of knowing my father has permanently left this earth and won’t be returning is an ongoing process.
I grieved for my cousin alone.
I cried silently at work. I was numb at home. I cried walking through Target after seeing the Dove body wash he raved about using. I’m still in a state where I know he’s gone but can’t fathom his presence gone from this earth.
My memories of those two souls are always in my present. I live in the house where memories were created as we once dwelled there together. The backyard and third floor is my cousin. The house itself, the basement and the stoop is my father.
Grief and memories are intertwined.
One persons’ grief process is not another’s.
The loss is real. I’ve lost a parent. I’ve lost a cousin.
I’ve also lost two neighbours within a month. I want to say three for my ex-brother in law lived for a time in the ‘hood when it was the ‘hood’ and not the ‘neighourhood’.
2016 is a year of sadness and reckoning.
There but for the grace of God go i.
