death & dying

In the last few weeks my dearest friend has lost two of her family members, neither of whom could assure her they were going to a better place, neither could comfort her with whispers of love... one was her cat, and one, her grandmother, a Parkinson's sufferer, unable to speak for some time, unable to move for too long now.

My friend is of no religious persuasion, and has no particular affiliation, no particular faith, no particular belief, religiously. She is, however, pregnant, non-related. Non of this has much to do with anything except the human continuum. There is life, there is death. Death is arbitrary until it is, truly, and without option, upon you. None of this has prophetic tone, simple steps in a line, one, two, three, dead.

I stiffened sharply in my veterinarians office recently when reviewing the human to animal age chart. I got my cat when I was in college, the first time. So my cat is 14... she is virtually unchanged since reaching adulthood; she's put on a little weight, lost some teeth, but we live in Reno, it's just what you do here. Anyhow, the chart gauges your animals age, like I said mine is 14, which brought me to the stunning realization that my little vintage beastie is in her "human" eighties! 80-years-old, that is just plain old, there is older, and younger, but, even 70 has an old ring to it. I understand that 60 is the new 40 (possibly 80 is the new 60) but where is the chart to explain that in cat years?