Michelle Styles:

Ever since his brother died, Heathcliff has been allowed free run of the house at night instead of being locked in the kitchen.
One consequence is that if I don't get up when my alarm goes, Heathcliff comes over and either meows very loudly or puts his cold nose on the inside of my wrist which shocks me into action. He doesn't sleep on the bed. We moved his basket up and he does sleep there. He also will sleep on my eldest's bed (if my eldest is away) or even my daughter's bed (again she has to be away).  But once the alarm goes off, he is there on my side of the bed. He totally ignores my sleeping husband and simply goes for the hand who will feed him.

Using this principle, I have been sending the collies upstairs to wake up the children if they are not down at suitable time. They have a habit of ignoring me. I often have to go and open their bedroom doors to allow the collies access... but once they have access, the collies know what to do. Tess is polite and merely noses the sleeping child. Hardy however gets into the swing of the game, leaps on the bed, normally landing on said child's stomach and then proceeds to wash the child's face.
This goes on until said child actually moves. Strangely enough, my eldest only had to have it happen once...my youngest though waits for it. Hardy is far more polite with my daughter and only noses her, rather than jumping on her bed.
The collies are not normally allowed upstairs and know this so they have to be invited. They are intelligent in that way...

My No Sugar campaign is going well. My writing less well but it is getting done. This VIking should be excellent when done.

Yesterday passed and it was tough.
The hardest thing now is listening to Heathcliff meow for his brother to come and play, knowing that his brother can't come. Sometimes hegets this happy look on his face and rushes off to investigate a spot where he thinks his brother must be hiding, only for his face to fall. Heathcliff has an expressive face for a cat...
We have decided that Heathcliff will be the solitary cat in the household. We learnt from our long ago expereince when Marmalade died and thought Treacle would need a playmate so quickly got 2 kittens. Treacle disliked the kittens intensely, turning the house into WW3.
Then when Joss the border collie died and we got Tess and Hardy, Chile was not overly pleased. Ironically we got two dogs because we were certain Chile would soon go. 3 years later, Chile is older and grumpier than ever but very much around. It took him about  6 months to used to Hardy and Tess.
The two who are off at uni thought we must be calling about him when we called about Mr Darcy.
Sometimes, if it is your time, it is just your time and if it isn't, it isn't.

Being an author means that I will remember the emotions. Am I being selfish in hoping that I have done enough grief for awhile? But grief is the price we pay for loving animals and the love and joy we get is worth the pain.