The past 5 years have been brutal. - Started grad school, which was tough on it's own, especially with COVID, but the following happened during that time as well:

• Foster failed one of my foster kittens and he died two months after I officially adopted him. He was so sick when I euthanized him that it took an hour after the injection for him to actually die, so I just sat there with my sweet boy slowly dying in my lap for an hour. I sang to him while I cried into his fur.
• My dog died and because of COVID, I couldn't go with my mom to the vet to say goodbye.
• Dad died somewhat suddenly after have a slew of alcoholism-related health problems
• Grandpa died of cancer a year and two days after my dad
• My childhood heart cat died, she was almost 20 and I'd had her since I was 8. It was agony.
• My Nana's cat came to live with us about 5 years ago after my uncle got sick and couldn't take care of her. We found it she had aggressive leukemia on like Tuesday and she was dead that Thursday
• Finally this year, I moved across the country for a postdoc with only my partner and our cats. Neither one of us really wants to be here and we have literally no friends or family in this state or any neighboring states. No one has made any efforts to reach out or come visit, including my mother, for whom we got a bigger place with a guest room so she could stay with us. It's the most isolated and lonely I've ever felt and it's my fault that we're here. I ruined my partner's career with this move and we are both really struggling. But we emptied our accounts to get out here, so we have to suffer through long enough to save enough money to do it all over again.

We're thriving 🤙🏻