This letter is about the vacation you took a couple of weeks ago, and how you entrusted me with the care of Smokey, Oreo, and Jennifer. I just wanted to write and thank you. As you know, I’m an old man. I don’t come outside much these days—these joints don’t work like they used to. And two years ago, my father was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer.

After he passed, I was left alone in this house. I never married, and I don’t have children. Honestly, I sometimes felt like I could go to sleep one day and never wake up, and no one would notice. My days were filled with silence and a constant question: What have I even done for this world?