We got the call from our vet early in the morning of September last year. Cody passed at 5am that day. I thought I had prepared myself for this day as he had already been at death’s door for the past few days, just laying on his bed, connected to an IV.

That was my last memory of him at home.

Just a few months earlier he was surveying the dogs’ area, like the King that he was. Always elusive, he would casually come up on the couch to sit with us, not really seeming like he was demanding pets or cuddles but that he just wanted to be near and make his presence known.

It was as if he lost weight practically overnight. He was diagnosed as having hypothyroidism. Most resources we could find online were for hyperthyroidism, so even with guidance from our vet we were still at a loss as to how to really treat him. At 16 years old, we were told that we were lucky he had lived that long.

Cody never had any health issues over the years except that we easily stressed him out by the moving houses every couple of years for the past 15 years.

He was my husband’s gift to me while I was still single, so he and I had been together for all of his life. He faithfully met me at the door each morning after I got home from work, and together we would lay on our black pleather couch (which he loved drilling holes into), him on my chest, and we would nap for as long as he wanted. When it was time to go up to my room, he would just follow me upstairs and lay next to me on the bed. Nary a meow of complaint; just quietly letting me know that he’s around.

It has been 6 months – 6 long months – since he’s been gone and I still can’t believe it. Sometimes I see his likeness out of the corner of my eye, or was it just wishful thinking?