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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.

During the pandemic, my cats have basically been my support. Since I'm immunocompromised and can't really return to normal the way most people seem to be doing now in the wake of Omicron, and since I've spent most of my life since early March 2020 isolating, they've provided me with many and comfort. They've given me something to do each day, to take care of and be responsible for, kept me on track and going even when all I wanted to do for depressing, lonely week after week, month after month, is lay on the couch and be as invisible as I've felt through the pandemic. They make me smile, they bring me joy, they're always there. In a time of upheaval and disruption in my personal, professional, and social life, as the world becomes more inaccessible and farther away, as the people I care for drop out of my life, I've been able to count on them each and every day. Now, my oldest girl is slowly slipping away. She's been with me for the past 20 years (almost 21 now) and has seen me through so much of my life, both good and bad, happy and sad, and everything in between. I don't know how to live without her. I've lost family and friends to COVID, I've seen some end up disabled long-term in the wake of the damage it does to their bodies. And she's been there, every time. I've moved to four different countries, been married and divorced and remarried and divorced, through horrible, broken relationships and finally to one of mutual respect and care. I've seen my friends' kids born and grow up, go off to college, get jobs, become parents themselves. I lost all of my grandparents after her arrival. She was there when their home was sold before they moved into retirement housing and I lost access to the place in the world that brought me the most comfort. But she was still there, curled on my lap or on her favorite green cushion that I always have on a chair in the window so she can catch the warm rays of sunshine whether it's the dead of winter or the height of summer. I've lost a great deal over my life, especially during these COVID years. But I've had her. My best friend. Not for much longer, though, and I am devastated. Lost. I hold her increasingly fragile body, watch her slowly and gingerly drink a tiny sip of water, slowly curl back up in my lap and I wonder how many more times I'll get to experience that. She goes to the vets on Monday. I don't know how to cope.