There were some great moments this past year, the best being the time spent with my parents when they visited us in Italy. We made some wonderful memories while traveling to Rome, Florence, and Venice.
Unfortunately, I will always remember 2008 for one thing and one thing only; it was the year we lost Roscoe. A beloved cat, a friend, a companion, a keeper of secrets, a heart mender, a smile maker, he was all of these and so much more. The hole in my heart, left in his absence, will never go away.
Aside from losing Roscoe, we also lost another friend. For more years then I have lived here a dirty, tattered feral cat has come to our home where my husband lovingly fed him. In fact, we have several stray cats who visit our home for daily meals. Just one month after Roscoe died one of our stray cats, named Baracca after the great Italian WWI pilot, came up missing. As a stray male, it wasn't unusual for him to disappear from time to time. But as the days turned into weeks, I started to worry. Several months later and there has been no sighting him. I wonder and worry about him still. Hoping he will return to us, but knowing in my heart that he will not.
Even though it has been a rough year, there is a part of me that isn't ready to see it come to close. In some strange way I feel that by moving ahead into the new year, we are leaving Roscoe and Baracca behind.
2008 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure and so I will look ahead in hopes that the new year will bring with it better times.
Wishing you all much love, happiness and good fortune in the new year.
