This evening Hamlet the cat settled into his final sleep. Mrs The Fyd and I were there to hold and pet him as he went. He was ten -- and I wanted another ten years or more to enjoy this particularly sweet and personable cat. But diabetes entered and complicated his life a few years ago, and health crises came at shorter and shorter intervals. Finally his brave heart was failing.

To have to make that decision so abruptly -- yesterday he took that turn for the worse and today we had to stand in the veterinarian's examination room and let him go. I am still crying and I hope that soon the sadness will pass and I can recall his yap and tail-up swagger with the delight and smile that he always provoked. I am sorry you're gone, friend, and only the peacefulness of your passing gives me any comfort right now. And my heart aches harder for you, Mrs The Fyd, best friend of friends, who was acquired by Hamlet when he was kitten and who knew his special ways longer.

This cat has blessed us.