About a month ago we said goodbye to our cat, Monkey, who passed at the ripe old feline age of seventeen. I had heard from many people how the death of a pet can impact you in ways you may not expect, even more so in some cases than another human being. Monkey was a near constant presence and, as a pet, provided a canvas for the projection of many things: our emotions, our very human need to anthropomorphize, to connect back to the natural world, and ultimately, our grief.