Almost every night, our family watches a show together and our dear kitty Coco is happily purring on my lap. The first 6 years of her life she lived with a female professor and it took her a while after we adopted her to warm up to the males in our house! Nowadays Coco will occasionally hang out with Marcus or Scott in whatever room they are in, but if I am sitting, she usually is firmly planted on or next to me. But not last night. Last night, she would have nothing to do with me. She went straight to Marcus and cuddled up to him as he sat staring at the TV. She sensed something was wrong, And it is. Not only does he feel crappy from the latest round of chemo and from getting whatever bug Scott had over the weekend, but he also found out Monday that his mom had passed away. It wasn't a surprise of course, given her colon cancer diagnosis, but the loss of a parent - especially the first parent - is something that hits you hard. Coco somehow sensed this and knew that he needed her.

And I believe the timing of Marcus' mom's death was not a coincidence either. Over a week ago, his mom went into the hospital for the third time in three months and was not very alert while she was there. However, she did not pass until after our family had celebrated some important moments - her husband's birthday on May 2, her only son Marcus' 50th birthday on May 4, and Mother's Day on Sunday. On Sunday, the hospice nurse told Marcus that her body was done, but her will was keeping her alive. Marcus got to say goodbye to her via video call, and the nurse assured him that his mom recognized and heard him. She actually passed away one minute after midnight Eastern Time on Mother's Day. I think she waited for us to get through the week of life events and for Marcus to see her one last time.

Sometimes they just know, even when you don't think they could. And now you do.