My Buddy

I lost a dear friend of 14 years this morning, my cat Sammy, my nighttime TV buddy, my sleep-on-my-legs-until-they-went-numb big ol' cat, as gentle a soul as you'd ever meet (and a bunch of you have met him over the years), shy but friendly, and loyal to the point of being a guard cat. He had been in failing health, lost a lot of weight, was diagnosed with fatty liver disease and pancreatitis and anemia, and was unfortunately not particularly well cared for by the hospital we took him to, but we'll be taking care of that, don't worry.
Woke up with him this morning, after a couple of pretty frail days, and he was awake and looking at me, and then he just left, right then and there. Pretty startling moment, very quiet and calm, 8 am on the dot. Don't know why I noticed that, but I did.

Always called him my buddy, and that's what he'll always be.