Thanks for everyone’s warm thoughts.
We’ll be taking Pepe for his final trip to the vet in a week or two. I’d be ready to take him this week, but Mark is not. I’m keeping an eye on the weather forecasts so I can spend a day in the sun with him and take him to the vet right after.
He’s not suffering today, and that’s the point for me. I know he will start suffering again soon and taking him in while he’s still cheerful is the only way to avoid it.
I expect it will be harder than I think when the time comes, but that is the future. I mean for Pepe and me to enjoy the present.
*Matthew 6:34. The English version is the convoluted “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” (Apologies for those allergic to religious texts, but they can be goldmines of pithy aphorisims.) (Interestingly, the Dutch version “Leef dus gewoon bij de dag” does not refer to pain or evil at all, whether elegantly or inelegantly.)