Ups and Downs

I haven't mentioned it but Isabelle our cat is not doing so well. She has become very weak and shaky and can't go up the stairs.... only down.
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And for some reason, she insists on going down into the basement, then cries until someone (i.e. Me) goes down and carries her up the stairs.
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It's sad when your pets get old, their life expectancy is so much shorter than ours, and they become so much of your life.
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So today, the first half warm sunny day in a while, Joanne let Izzy out on the deck for awhile, and naturally she wandered off. I failed to mention that she is deaf as well, and can't hear anybody calling her.
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When we couldn't find her for a couple of hours, I had all sorts of fantasies, like she got scooped up by the Red Tailed Hawk that was on Tommy O Shea's front lawn and other panicky stuff like that. It was pretty depressing.
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Then she showed up at the basement door. I was relieved and happy.
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It got me thinking. Do we need to be depressed and unhappy in order to feel joy and happiness? Now I'm depressed again.