I believe in a pink pancake cat.

Pancake animals are cheap carnival prizes. In this case, two pieces of cartoon cat-shaped pink cloth sewn into a pillow, with appliqued eyes and snout. My wife won it while we were dating, about 35 years ago.

We hung it on the doorframe of our first apartment so friends could find us. They'd say, "Let's gather at the Sign of the Pink Pussycat." The cat quickly became an icon for the life we were building together.

Now, my wife and I were raised in very different faiths. The other meaning of 'icon', besides a symbol or something on a computer, is a painting of a holy person: something to be worshiped. So our iconic Pink - the cat - became shorthand for our own personal Gods. And then became a household god, with a lower-case g, in charge of very small miracles like finding lost objects or providing convenient parking. Pink was who we prayed to when we wanted good luck.

And he was pretty good at it. Things started going well for us, professionally and in our relationship. Not financially - we were just starting out, and there are limits to what a stuffed cat can do - but otherwise life was pretty sweet. When we had luck, we thanked the Cat. When we didn't, we said he must have had a good reason.

Oh yes, our household god was a He. We whimsically assigned him a sex and a backstory, including a fondness for bourbon. When we'd been particularly lucky, we'd reward him with a drop on his sewn-on snout. It seemed to generate more luck.

Because we came from different religions, my wife and I decided not to raise our two sons in either one, but to give them the best traditions and moral teachings of both. Naturally, they learned to Trust the Cat as well. They could have done worse: both grew up to be productive, loving, thoroughly worthwhile young men.

My wife passed away, suddenly, the day before Christmas 2005. She was much too young for that, but I guess Pink had a good reason. As I think about her -- who she was, what she accomplished, and the wonderful life we shared -- I'm filled with happiness and gratitude.

Good job, Pink Pussycat. You'll get some bourbon tonight.