Olli....

What, with one thing and another, I can quite honestly confess that the last few years have been the most challenging I've experienced. (And I am using "challenging" as an euphemism.) Sure, there have been plenty of high points, exceptional experiences and laughter. There was the arrival of The Cheeky Monkey and visits to and from loved ones. But there has also been much difficulty and a fair bit of substantial, sentimental loss.

Not least of which, was Olli.

We didn't actually loose Olli, in the misplaced sense of lost. We lost him because he developed kitty-lukemia.

It really doesn't seem that long ago that Olli joined our family. 

Olli and the Caspi-Man did some substantial growing up together and after the arrival of The Cheeky Monkey, I referred to him as my middle child. He coped quite well with being a sandwich sibling... and while he was a bit miffed with me for a few days after bringing The Cheeky Monkey home, he embraced his younger brother from the outset.

I am quite grateful that apart from loosing a bit of weight and being a bit lethargic he showed no symptoms until the last week. The vets assured us that he wouldn't have been experiencing much pain. I'm not so sure of that because as anyone with a little Cheeky Monkey in their house would know- they are not the most gentle of creatures. The outcome would've been the same but we would have all been sad much earlier...

Olli was put to sleep last March, and I still miss him. 

Cat treats in our house are still called "olli lollies", and it is only recently that I don't feel a sharp pang whenever the phrase is mentioned.

Vale Olli. You were much loved.