We laughed ourselves silly, taking back our shared past, gently, piece by piece.

I was tired of hanging on, taking the torn pieces to make something whole with them.

Sometimes it seems safer to hold it all in, where the only person who can judge is yourself.

After the group vet appointment--during which Lyle scratched the vet, the vet tech, and some poor woman minding her own business in the waiting room--we went back to Sabrina's and re-released the cats to their natural habitat.

She knew I could tell with one glance, one look, one simple instant. It was her eyes. Despite the thick makeup, they were still dark-rimmed., haunted, and sad. Most of all though, they were familiar. The fact that we were in front of hundreds of strangers changed nothing at all. I'd spent a summer with those same eyes-scared, lost, confused-staring back at me. I would have known them anywhere.

The way I see it," she continued, "is that some things are just meant to be the way they are.

With love like that, you can't get pick about how it finds you or the details. All that matters is that it's there. Better late than never.