
My first candle is for our old cat, Ariel. She was seventeen when she passed away, an old, cranky cat who I had known all my life since I was just a toddler. She was a calico cat, mostly black, with spots of orange and a white tummy. Most of her days were spent under the bed in my parents room. When she was about fifteen, she's started yowling occasionally, for no obvious reason. We'd be doing school or watching television and suddenly we'd hear this loud, sort of creepy-sounding wail of meows. But we had the vet check her, perfect health, and we wrote it off as being just old age. Maybe her vision or hearing was going because of how old she was, and the meows were just a form of echolocation, which became a ridiculous running joke in the years ahead. Two years later, near she eighteenth birthday (just a few days prior, in fact) she started acting odd. I forget the symptoms, but I believe the diagnosis was that she had a seizure and lost a lot of mobility in her left side, and I was heartbroken. Now, I'd never cared for the cantankerous old cougar who yowled and whined and hates being touched. All she did was make noise, right? But some part of me always came to depend on her, the one constant in my life, a dependable friend always hanging out below the bed in my parents bedroom. We tried to get her to eat something, anything, even went ti the store and got some baby food, but nothing worked. The following day my parents took her to the vet in a blanket, wrapped up like a little cozy taco, and came home empty-handed. Ariel, I hope you found a home somewhere with Kismet, and I wish I could see you again.

This one is a little less touchy-feely.
This candle is in memory of my very first goldfish, Pebbles. I was ecstatic to have my very own pet, I'd always wanted something to take care of myself besides a cat, and even if it was a fish it was something. Brought him home one day, put him in his fishbowl, and fed him twice a day with a bowl cleaning on Fridays. I was so stressed when we had to leave for vacation, thought he'd die while I was gone! Luckily, all went well, and all of my pets were happy to see me. Even got him a snail friend at one point (which brings me to my next point- RIP Shelly) but that didn't really work out. He didn't live long, less than a year, despite my efforts for him to have the best life possible, and left us sometime in May. I had been on a field trip, catching snakes and having fun, so I was crushed when I came home to see my beloved fish not swimming anymore.
Even if you were a tiny goldfish, Pebbles, I hope you're safe wherever you are.