Death of a family pet

really effin blows. Last Thursday my beloved cat got outside. This isn't unlike him, since he was rescued from the street he just loved being outside. He was my "wild child" so to speak. Always catching critters and bringing them to me. Just an all around sweet sweet boy. Anyway, we got out on Thursday evening. That night before bed I opened the door but he wasn't there. I figured he must of come back in when the kids where in and out that evening. No worries, I just went to bed. In the morning I asked my daughter who's 7 if she'd seen Casper. She told me he was in her bed last night. Hmm I thought and started searching. I opened every closet, looked under every bed. Nothing. He wasn't in this house. I shook food, called his name, did our kitty call, nothing. So outside I went. Still nothing. Since we live in Military housing all the houses look the same, so I figured maybe he went to the wrong house. I had my kids look around, still nothing. This was weird. The first thought that ran through my head was that someone stole him. He was a beautiful all white cat. Just beautiful. After contacting the rescue I work with to foster cats (she also gave me him)I decided to call it quits b/c I had to get the kids to school and run a few errands. He couldn't be far, right? Maybe he was just out being the little stud he was and looking for a girlfriend (no worries he's fixed, I'm a responsible pet owner). Later that night I had a FRG board meeting. My that time he had been gone 24 hrs. Where is this little turd at. Why hadn't he come home. In my meeting I get a call from the lady I foster for. She had gone to my house to drop off some paperwork. B/c I was at a meeting I had to ignore the call. But soon after she texted me that she thinks she found Casper. I was so happy I can't even explain. After asking where, I got no response. My friend was at the house watching my kids. I pulled into the driveway after the meeting to see her outside on the phone. She quickly hung up and I said "She found Casper, is he ok" the look on her face cut me like a knife. To see the tears in her eyes and her hand over her mouth, I knew something bad had happened. As I start to break down asking what, why? She tells me, he was hit by a car and died. I have never felt this pain before. I've never lost a pet, ever. I know some will think, sheesh it's just a cat. But we are cat people. Even my husband. This is actually his cat. Now I'm thinking how in the world am I going to tell my children that their cat isn't coming home. They are only 7,5 and 2. I needed to focus on the older 2 b/c the baby will not remember or understand. So through my tears I had to tell them that our beloved cat was in heaven with all the other kitties and puppies. They took it better then I imagined. They only asked a few questions and seemed to understand. My next thought was, oh great. I now need to email my husband who is deployed and tell him his cat was killed. I probably typed that email 4 or 5 times before I was able to see enough through my tears and write it the nicest way possible. The entire situation was just awful. In the end we were blessed with the most awesome cat ever. He was the prettiest and had the best personality in the world. I love that he would lay on the floor and I would have to vacuum around him. He was fearless and loved life. He will be greatly missed and is buried in a nice place with other cats. For now we are just left with memories. RIP my sweet boy Casper