We made the decision to let go today, and I can't describe it any other way than that it was like watching a giant being felled. The day I stuck her striped gray tiny-ness into my red backpack with the yellow zipper and brought her home from Maile Kop's house (instructions from Maile: "Just put her somewhere outside. Tell your mom you found her there. She won't leave. Oh, and she likes being bounced like a baby") to the last day of her life, she was an extraordinary cat, living happily outdoors in Manoa Valley for the majority of her life, then retiring to a condo for a few years before making her final move to our current residence. Twenty-two years, three homes, nine lives. We joked that she would outlive us all. She survived so much I was almost surprised when she slipped away today, under our prayerful hands. I think it was right but I feel so wrong, and so sad. She really never did leave me.

You are so loved, and so missed.