He had been failing and suffering, and so we did the thing no one wants to do. (For those unfamiliar with Prana's story, detailed on the Facebook page Catlandia, he had become catastrophically ill with a mystery neurological disease.)
I want to tell you about a few other, seemingly unrelated things.
A few years ago my mother died. Afterwards, I was sitting outside and a crow flew down and sat near me. Without thinking I said, "Hi Mom." Before this I was sure that death meant an end to everything we knew as life. But in this moment I knew something more.
This year Martin died in the vet's office following a procedure. It was shocking, unexpected. Martin was a big beautiful cat who was the heart and soul of the GPKs colony. He was the center that held everything together, the glue. He was the gentle father figure of the Love Clique, the group of GPKs boys who are so loving and affectionate with one another.
We made the appointment and a while before it was time, we got in the car and drove down to the edge of the world. I wanted to show Prana the ocean, and for us to sit here peacefully and say our goodbyes.
In the vet's office we did the things that are called euthanization. Prana died. It was over.
I came home and took a walk with Natalie the dog. When we got back, I went back outside and saw something I have not seen before. On the roof of the house next door, just a few yards away, three vultures flew down and landed. I knew this was extraordinary, and related to Prana's passing, but not what was happening exactly. I grabbed the camera and got a few photos.
When two of the vultures flew up and over a few yards to the top of the telephone pole at the corner of the yard, I saw a crow swoop down and glide in a circle around this place, and then go back off the way she came. My mom, who came to me after her own death, in a crow. I had asked her to help Prana today. And there she was. These birds coming to me less than an hour after Prana's death brought me some much needed peace.
So its over. The part where Prana is here with us. What is he doing, being, exeriencing now? He has no failing body to hold him down anymore. He is flying free, I think, with friends. I hope to see him again one day, and hold him in my arms and tell him how much I love him.