This episode is called “Glue Stick” because this week I bought a glue stick with which to construct a couple of balsa wood model pinball machines. And you thought it was something deep & meaningful…ha!

If you have lost long-time pets you know how difficult it can be. Last week after 15 years of dominating my lap & acting as a squishable stress relief device in the process, I lost my cat Jetta. It was her time, she was only eating one very specific thing & only when it was fed to her by hand, & even then only tiny amounts. She was growing weak & by her last day required help to get into & out of her basket/bed. Rather than subject her to spending her final hours in a carrier she hated, traveling to a place she hated, only to take her last breath on a sterile metal table she hated, I called in a veterinarian who makes house calls. He came to the house & put her to rest in comfort of the room in which she’d spent much of the last 10 years & pretty much all of 2023.

She spent much of the day on my lap purring when I brushed & pet her, which was wonderful & miserable at the same time. Even though I was certain I was doing the right thing, knowing she was happy introduced irrational doubts. It was a brutal few hours, but in retrospect, I’m really glad we shared them that way.

I had a plan in place for the aftermath. As soon as the vet left I dove into a series of tasks I’d planned including removing & power-washing Jetta’s litter box, as well cleaning & removing other things of hers including food bowls, beds, & toys. This served the dual purpose of keeping me busy right away, & the rearranging of things served to make it visually obvious that things had changed, that my giant fuzzy beast wasn’t with us anymore.

That was all very helpful until the evening when I found myself watching hockey without my squishable stress relief device on my lap. It was very uncomfortable.

Fortuitous timing had good friends from California arrive a couple of days later for a planned visit. Galavanting & staying out late with them every night of their stay helped keep me occupied & feeling supported through the weekend.

On Tuesday during the Fuzzy Road radio show a package requiring a signature arrived containing Jetta’s ashes. The ashes were not supposed to arrive until next week, & they were certainly not supposed to arrive while I was trying to host a radio show, but alas, life (& death) is not always predictable. Needless to say my sadness & loss resurfaced full-force rendering me a mess all over again.

I will continue to grieve the loss of that cat well into the future…& that’s OK. That is as it should be. Eventually the pain of losing my pal will decrease & the grief will recede. I know this because I’ve been through this, & that knowledge surely helps.

Today’s marathon live-hosted 480 Minutes program runs from 9am-5pm Eastern U.S. time will debut new music by Black Lips (Atlanta, GA, @TheBlackLips_), Cheekface (Los Angeles, CA, @TheRealCheekFace), Civic (Melbourne, Australia, @Civic_Aus), Glüme (Los Angeles, CA, @babyglume),  The Go! Team (Brighton, England, @ItsTheGoTeam),  The Golden Dregs (London, England, @TheGoldenDregs), Quasi (Portland, OR, @Thee.Quasi), (posthumous) Sparklehorse (Richmond, VA), @Sparklehourse.Official), VOSH (Washington, D.C., @VoshVault),  The Waeve (@TheWaeveOfficial), & Yellow Pills (Chicago, IL, @YellowPillsMusic).

Tune in & meet fellow members of our listening community in the chat room during the live-hosted show.

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Videos

480 Minutes / 2023 Episode 7/Overall Episode 820