My 14-year-old Simone de Bรฉbรฉย wasย in her last stage of life. She hadnโt been eating much at all the past few weeks. I made the first appointment I could with the vet to have her euthanized in a few days, on Monday.ย But in the end, she declined precipitously and I couldn't wait. โจOver the recent days when my Simoneย de Bรฉbรฉ was gravely ill, I experienced an ever present underlying nausea, an existential exhaustion. Not so much grief as despair. As though all the terrible deaths occurringย everywhere in the world wereย happening right at my feet.ย

