A very hard goodbye.

I promise that this isn't a whole blog about animal death. Really.

In a perfect world, I would never post about such things, but last night, our sweet little cat died after suffering a stroke. It's rotten, and there's not much to say right now except that we are all going to miss her very much.

I'm not sure as a parent there are many things harder than watching your children hurt -- the pain is so deep, and it wells up again and again.

So we're doing the little things we can, like buying a grave marker, and flowers and writing obituaries to help them understand death a little better.

So many of you have been so very supportive during the past four weeks while Riggs was fighting hard to recover from her accident. It has meant a lot to our whole family. She was such a tough little cat, and as recently as Thursday afternoon, the veterinarian was thrilled with her progress.

It's too soon to try to find meaning here -- we are just dealing with the sadness and the overwhelming feeling that has come with something so tiny leaving such a huge empty space in our home and our hearts. But the care and concern so many have shown for us helps, so again, I want to say thank you.

Here is the obituary we wrote for our girl:

June 22, 2013 -- Rigatoni Flame Anderson
died Friday at home after a brief illness. She was 4 years old.

Rigatoni was adopted by the Anderson Family in September of 2009 when Owen found her. She was a stray and had been living on food from a dumpster. She was hospitalized for three days and then came to live with them full-time.

Rigatoni earned the nickname “Therapy Cat” for her calm and loving demeanor. She could often be found on Owen’s bed. He was her special person.

She was always a micro-cat; she never grew to full size because of malnutrition as a kitten, but her small size was in opposition to her huge and powerful spirit. Rigatoni fought hard to survive as a baby, and even harder to survive after a May 24 accident when she was struck by a car.  Riggs showed us all that the smallest can have a quiet strength, or as Ellery put it, “Some people think that girls aren’t tough, but they are when they need to be.”

Riggs will be forever immortalized in the work of Owen Anderson, creator of Crazy Cat, a cartoon that features an adventurous and feisty feline named Riggs, who along with her companion Chris and a large cast of other characters, is always making readers laugh.

Rigatoni is survived by her animal siblings, Travis and Joey, and by her human family, Shawn, Kara, Ellery and Owen.

In lieu of flowers, please hug your pets, and drive very safely in residential neighborhoods.

We will love you forever Riggs. May the force be with you.