Well done, good and faithful servant

This is the Chaplain's Medal for Heroism, introduced during WWII to honor men of the cloth who performed with great courage on the battlefield. I am bestowing it posthumously on my uncle's cat, Bennie, who died yesterday.

I mean no disrespect by this post. Quite the opposite. For my uncle loved Bennie enormously and she was the one bright spot toward the end of his life. He suffered from Parkinson's Disease, no doubt exacerbated by his exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam, so I consider him a war casualty, even if the government doesn't.

And Bennie, ballsy Bennie who feared nothing, stayed by his side no matter what. He briefly had a puppy, but that little guy was frightened by his twitches and spasms and had to go live with his stepdaughter. How that hurt and embarrassed my uncle! But Bennie had the bearing that comes from knowing her feline ancestors were worshipped as Egyptian gods, so she consistently responded to my uncle with nothing but a loud and accepting purr, no matter what torments his body was putting him through.

She was nearly 20 years old and in poor health. While my mother and nephew really loved having her around at my mother's house, where she has lived since December, I think it would be selfish to expect her to stick around for them. She served our family enough, her work here was done, and it was time for to rest for all eternity with my uncle.