Minnie, our three-legged barn cat, has taken over Maria’s Rapunzel chair, built over two years by weaving baling wire over an old disintegrating chair we found in the barn. Minnie is perhaps our sweetest animal. She lost a leg three years ago to a predator late one night, we very nearly decided to put her down. I thought we should, Maria thought we shouldn’t. Then I had the sense she wasn’t really ready to go.

Contrary to what many people claim about such surgeries, the amputation was painful for Minnie, her recovery took a very long time and I am still not certain we made the right decision. We make decisions all of the time that are good for us, but it is really moral to subject an animal to that kind of trauma and prolonged pain and suffering? It still feels selfish to me, something about what we need, not what she needed.

There is no doubt she is functioning well, and is much loved. And I think her love for Maria is evident, and a part of her love for the Rapunzel Chair.