Pets

that's either profound or insightful, i can't tell which.

the inversion of hope is kind of funny too: with pets you don't generally actively hope that they'll outlive you, it's the opposite with children.

i think discipline is probably easier with children, it's certainly easier than disciplining a cat ;) my cat always glares at me when i give her shit, then she stalks off (always slowly) in a huff. damn cats and their superior-to-thou attitude. it's that whole "cats were worshiped as gods, cats have never forgotten this" thing.

love is a two way street or it's not love by my definition. by giving you're a richer person. the giving is easy. it's the taking that's hard.

and i don't think this is un-cherry, for what it's worth. it's a good topic to ramble about :)

it's still "tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all" - old cliche but to me it rings even more true with pets than with people because it is so much rarer for that love to become tainted in any way (assuming the person is not a bad person, and even then it is hard to imagine a dog, for example, seeing its relationship with any person as tainted, per se) - I have various boyfriends I look back on that at the time I loved and now wonder what in hell was going through my head (and/or heart) at the time, but I could never feel like that with my babies.

Sophie has made my life better with her presence every day of her life, and that is something I will never, ever forget. And while my memories can't help but fade over time, there is no way that I could lose the memory of how much I love her. The same goes for my kitty who happily seems to have another decade or two to live if you judge by his current health at age 10.

If she had died when she was one it would have been worth it to have known her, and if she had lived out her normal life expectancy it would have been worth it. It hurts a great deal but I would pay this hurt time and time again to have been lucky enough to have her in my life even for these all too short seven years.