Five and a half years ago, a friend brought me a pair of black cats from an abandoned section of her apartment complex, one kitten and one adult. They came to me 3 weeks apart. First, the kitten, 3-months old, sleek, black and bursting with energy, who would go on to become the endearingly bitchy and cantankerous Tonya. Next came Shadow, who was at least 3 maybe even four or five years old and was, quite possibly Tonya's mother...Where Tonya had been taken in by someone at first, Shadow had been abandoned and was on the verge of reverting to a more feral state.

Over the years, Shadow became the more social of the two, an absolute sweetheart if ever one existed.

a cuddler, a blanket hog and a serious Catnip junkie.

Lover of French fries, and of ice cream, known to throw herself bodily into a plate full of catnip as if all four of her legs had been shot out from under her with a cannon and alternately eat it and roll in it until she was good and high.

When I'd pet her, she'd return the favor by licking my arm.

She was everything good you could hope for in a cat, any pet in general or even of any friend.

For the last few days though she was kind of withdrawn and found herself a hiding spot

last night, she came out, panting and weak, struggling to breathe and laid down at my feet

I took her to the vet, who told me that she was going into kidney failure and that her lungs sounded bad

she passed away in my arms as the vet delivered the fatal dose of anesthetic and as i scratched her favorite spot behind her ears

'bye kitty.