So Long, Little Buddy... We will meet again in a better place

My beloved cat, Blaise.

It pains me to even have to write this. Over the weekend, my cat and best friend had to be put to sleep. He had feline diabetes and was suffering. It was for the best. But still, its a jagged pill to swallow.

I got Blaise when I was a Junior in High School from the then girlfriend of a buddy of mine. At that time he fit in the palm of my hand. Blaise has since then seen me start snowboarding, graduate High School, attend Loyola, be a rugby player, attend UIC, be a volleyball player, attend SSC, be a hockey player, attend Loyola again, be a cheerleader, buy a car, graduate University, get my first real job, graduate B-School, travel the continent, be a boxer, get married, buy a house, have my first son, switch jobs, buy another car, preare to switch jobs again, and prepare to have my second son.

Blaise has been with me for the entirety of my adult life and I will miss him dearly. But I will always find solace in knowing that his legacy will live on through my actions. He taught me a lot of things. The patience I exercise with my children will have been honed through raising him, the compassion I demonstrate to others he excersized in me daily, and the ferocity with which he routinely backed much bigger animals into corners is the same with which I will attack life...

Blaise, I will always miss you. But I know you are in a better place right now and will be waiting on a sunny windowledge for me when it comes time for me to see you again. Until then, I will quietly give a shout out in your name everytime I have a meal with corn in it.