One year ago today, I wrote this piece about Harvard. How can it be that it has been 1 1/2 years since he went away?

Exactly six months ago, my bestest friend went home to be with Jesus. Knowing the gracious, beautiful heart of Jesus makes me think that He is probably incredibly happy having Harvard back with Him. And Harvard? I doubt he knew what happened to him when he breathed in the air of heaven and saw the smiling face of God above him.

There is not a day that goes by that I don’t miss my greatest earthly love. Once in a rare while, I hear him. Old cat nails scratching out a staccato rhythm on the hard floor. Old, raspy meow demanding I rub his head and tell him something wonderful about himself. Old, cow-patterned fur just dying for me to touch and brush. Old eyes staring into mine, telling me his love would drain the lake dry.

That is the cat I loved—and still love. That is the friend I miss with all my heart. The light of my life and joy of my soul.

Six months. How can it be that it has been that many months, that many days? And how can it be that it feels like just last week?

Harvard, do you know it will be another six months in just a flash of time? One, whole year will soon separate our lives. Sunrises and sunsets apart. Seasons and worlds away. Time and space preventing our lives from touching, connecting.

Dear one, my hair is far longer than you’d remember. You’d love chewing on it, I know. There are more wrinkles on my forehead from the sun and sadness and age. But I’ll always be eleven years old to you.

Our maple tree budded the week of Easter and was fully leaved just days after that. You would love it. There have been cardinals and squirrels in it. The rabbits play in the lot—they make me smile. And the lilacs—oh the lilacs!—they smell like the air of grace and heaven. There is something un-earthy about them, something that makes me long for heaven and Jesus and all that goodness so much more.

Dearest Harvard, I’m certain it is a very fine thing to be Jesus. I’m also equally certain it will be the very best beginning to the rest of my life when the day comes that I get to be with both you and Jesus in the same place. Forever.