When I was younger, from the time I was born till to I was about ten, we had a cat called Barney. He was a lazy cat, spending most of his days laying around in awkward places, like above the fridge or hiding in the barn. Even though he was lazy and did little exercise, he was skinny. His fur was a dull black, from laying in dust and exploring unused parts of our barn. The only way to tell him apart from his brother, Fred, was the white spot that shined on his chest. Barney was with me for a huge chunk of my childhood. He had traveled to and from England, Sweden, and America. He was one of my best friends and our family loved him dearly. The one thing I remember the most about him was when he passed away.

During the last week of summer break my family and I were at Cedar Point. It was a sunny, cloudless, hot day. We were walking around, sweating, and enjoying the rides while the hot sun beamed down on us. My moms phone interrupted our theme park adventure, and she suggested that we stop and rest while she took the call. My dad, my sister and I sat under a tree, one of the few things that could shade us from the suns brutal heat, inhaling water like we hadn’t drank in days. We discussed what rides we wanted to conquer next, while we impatiently waited for my mom. My mom walked back, tears in her eyes, hugged my dad and whispered something in his ear. Barney had died, but I did not know at the time, so I asked why mom was crying. “Don’t worry about it, enjoy your day.” he replied trying to not ruin our day with the bad news. I obliged and ran with my sister to the map to find the next ride. The rest of the day we had this awkward feeling, we knew our parents were hiding something from us, we just didn’t know what. So we continued riding roller coasters, drinking water, catching our breath, and avoiding the sun until it started to disappear. Our adventure was ending, we trudged back to the parking lot. We attempted to settle in the sauna that was our car, putting our seat belts on, getting snacks in our hands. Then our parents turned around and asked for our attention.
“So you two are aware that Barney was in the vet…”
We shook our heads in acknowledgment, anxious to get home.
“Well.. Barney passed away of kidney failure this morning”
I realized that he was dead and that he was going to pass away eventually, but it never seemed like it was going to happen, he seemed immortal. This is when i first realized that everyone was going to be gone one day. Although losing my cat did make me sad, what really hit me was the fact that everyone was going to be gone some day. Me, My dad, mom, my sister. No one would last for ever.
. My sister didn’t quite understand.
“What does that mean?” she asked for clarification.
“He’s gone to cat heaven.” My parents replied, sugar coating his death with something that seemed understandable. He was gone.
This was the first time I had experienced death of any kind and even though it wasn’t another human, it was very weird and emotional. It probably would of been different if it was a person since you can make a stronger bond and connect more easily. But as much as I loved Barney, it was very different when he died. He was gone, there would be no more meowing for attention. No more dark figures wandering into my room to lay next to me. No more bright green eyes, watching me as I did chores around the house. I think this is a good example of “you don’t know what you have until it’s gone”. You should cherish the little things.