Going to the cat shelter six blocks down from my house was one of my favorite things to do when I was younger. My mom would often take me and my brother so that we could look at all of the cats that they had, we’d get to play with them and give them love and affection. 

We already owned a cat so getting another one was out of the picture; my dad liked cats, he just didn’t want to due to the idea that everyone in our family would get their hearts broken, because eventually; with every pet there would be a loss associated. 

We arrived at the cat shelter one afternoon and noticed new arrivals, cats that had been transferred from one place to another. My younger brother’s eyes lit up as he saw one of them. A skinny, gray, malnourished looking cat “Tawny” she had bright green eyes and her face was split between two different colors across her nose. She was very unique. I felt sorry for the state that she was in: shy, skittish, untrusting. It was like she had been through something horrible, someone did something to her. 

“Isn't she adorable? We rescued her last night. We found her abandoned in the snowstorm last night. She must have been living outside for quite some time, it's a miracle she's even alive.” 

Tawny gazed at us with her fearful eyes, at this point me and my brother already knew that we wanted to bring her home with us. We begged our mom to let us adopt her, she wanted her as well

“I really like her too but you know what your dad says, no more animals.”

My brother starts to tear up, he wanted this cat no matter what. 

Throughout the next few weeks, we continued to visit the shelter and we would try to pet Tawny, and throughout these weeks she actually let us pet her a few times. Other cats in the shelter would come and go, but why wasn't she getting adopted? 

The shelter didn’t have enough spots which meant that if an animal was there for too long then they would eventually end up getting put somewhere else or euthanized. The reason for being euthanized? She was traumatized. Most people didn't want to adopt a “dysfunctional” cat.

It wasn't her fault so why should she suffer at the hands of other people?

Another week of pleading.

Another week. 

The deadline was approaching.

After weeks of begging to let us rescue the cat, our parents give us the best news. 

“Get ready to go the shelter; we’re adopting Tawny.”

We had Tawny for three years, but she wasn’t in the best health we had to let her go. The thing that my dad was afraid of happened. He had to see his children upset, I know he didn’t want us to see but we saw him cry as well. 

Loss is something that everyone eventually goes through whether it's a person or a pet, and this loss hurts the hardest. However, I don’t regret it. We gave Tawny the happiest life, the life that she deserved, that’s why the thing that I couldn’t live without is the ashes of my beloved cat, Tawny.