My partner is devastated. Giz was his baby. But we gave him a beautiful send off. We buried him at our friends' house (rather than at our rental) under a rosebush. He will have spikes in his next life, too.
I am still stuck in PhD hell. This is year 7, going on 8. It's embarrassing. But 7 years ago was also when mom was diagnosed with Alzheimers, so I'm trying to be (somewhat) gracious with myself.