Remembering Sebastian

Sad news this past week. On Thursday we had to put our cat Sebastian to sleep. Many of you will remember Sebastian as our remarkably large cat, brother to Sombra. We took him in from off the streets soon after moving to Austin; our apartment manager at the time was such a cat lover that he paid to have Sebo vaccinated and neutered.

Sebo's health deteriorated pretty quickly the week before last. He had injured his back left leg somehow, and when we got back from Wyoming he wasn't moving much and had trouble breathing. The vet found out that he was undergoing heart failure, among other critical internal problems, and that he would be unlikely to recover even if we tried intensive treatment.

Here are a few lines from Fr. Edward Hays's prayer on the death of a pet, adapted to come from both of us:

From him we learned many lessons,
such as the quality of naturalness
and the unembarassed request for affection.
In caring for his daily needs,
we were taken out of our own self-needs
and thus learned to service another.

* * *

May Sebastian sleep on
in an eternal slumber in your godly care
as all creation awaits the fullness of liberation.