I was a member of a backpacking forum for about 11 years.  It was the first forum I joined and after a few moments of thought gave birth to my username.  Tech - I'm always way ahead of the curve with technology and make a living from it.  Trek - I like road trips and hiking.  It had a long-running thread called "Goodbye my friend".  It was an ongoing therapy session for those that just lost a pet, sometimes a human friend.  Unfortunately that forum slowly died due to neglect from new owners and just 2 weeks ago it was shut down.  Also unfortunately, over the last few weeks we have watched the decline of one of our cats and tonight we had to make the decision to end her suffering.  So, this new thread is partially a goodbye to that forum, and partially a goodbye to Melon.

The forum was called Trail Talk, TT to those of us that hung out there.  It started in the late 90's and I believe I joined in March of 2003.  I went on many trips with those I met on the board, improved my equipment and techniques over time, and checked in often.  The founder sold it around 2008.  The new owners recruited several of us to act as moderators.  Things broke and the owners didn't fix them.  People drifted away to new avenues like Facebook and other forums.  Those of us that were left knew the end was near and 2 weeks ago it was gone without warning even to those of us that spent so much time running it without the owner's help.  A few of us emailed each other to lament.  Time moves on.

Eight years ago my wife went to a meeting at the local high school.  She came back with a cat.  She found the cat by the dumpster and it followed her into the cafeteria during the meeting.  Then it followed her to her car and hopped in.  We've had a lot of cats, but my wife is a dog person.  Cats choose their owner and this was the first one that chose my wife.  We live in the country and she lived up to the name we had given her by getting fat.  She had a good life here, but like several other cats we've had, last spring she developed kidney disease.  There are better treatments now - subcutaneous fluid therapy and dietary supplements which help a lot.  For Melon it actually reversed her blood chemistry counts to normal which is unusual, so I had hopes that she would make it a few more years.  The last 2 months made it obvious this coming summer would be her last in the sun on the back porch - a place she would stay all night on some warm nights.  The last month made it obvious she would be lucky to get some warm spring days on her favorite perch.  The last week we knew she would be lucky to see next month.  As she fought to stay warm in the garage this cold winter I went out and bought a heat lamp.  Some time under an electric sun, some extra scratches under the chin, and an expectation over the last few days that we would wake up to find her already gone.  But, she's always been a fighter.  A few years ago she was attacked so badly by a raccoon we - and later the vet - swore she must have been hit by a car.  It took a few weeks but she was back on that porch, and so she fought this week.  We've been fortunate that pets in the past have all gone quickly but yesterday we found ourselves discussing a decision we didn't want to make.  When she was still around this morning, and again this afternoon when we came home, we had to make that decision.  And so one of our children, my wife and I went to the vet this evening.  Even knowing this isn't the end, just a transition, it sucks.

Goodbye TT.  Goodbye Melon, I'll scratch your chin again in 40 years.

Time moves on.