Callie is seventeen years old today. Her brother Carmel died of liver and kidney failure in February 2009, and I still don't know how to write about that experience. Both cats have been a part of my life for so long, longer than most friends. I'm so grateful that Callie, who has been on thyroid medication for the better part of a decade, is still jolting me awake with angry headbutts and trailing litter all over my blankets and purring maniacally while cutting off circulation to my limbs.

I know some of you aren't cat people or pet people or people, but just for today, shut up and deal with the fact that I love my cat twenty times more than I will ever love you.