Good Bye Tigger

This morning the vet put our eighteen and a half year old beloved cat, Tigger to his eternal sleep. Obviously, I had to authorize that. I was devastated with the idea when our vet, Dr. Ressel had suggested that about two weeks ago. I had mentioned to my family about my own plan – that I did not want to be bed ridden, that if I could not have a reasonable quality of life, not to prolong my life using machines, that life is not about quantity, rather about quality. Now, suddenly I faced the unique dilemma or decision point about Tigger’s life. I watched along with our daughters (who flew in from Chicago and Cleveland to spend a day with Tigger) Tigger go to sleep suddenly as the Dr. put that lethal injection. Tigger looked at me one last time before closing his eyes. We said our last good bye. Tigger has gone to his eternal home. His bodily ashes will be under some live oak tree somewhere in Anderson, Texas. I hope Tigger knew that he was loved. May his soul rest in peace.

Life, death, love, Dr. Kevorkian, Tigger, me – we all face the same reality, we all have same feelings – spoken or unspoken. What matters in life is to love and be loved. Our body becomes frail like a worn out shirt (as described in the philosophical book “Gita”), becomes ashes, but we (animals, plants, human) continue our endless journey through our genes.