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+#+TITLE: A Good-Bye Letter To My Life-Long Companion
+#+TAGS: non-technical
+#+DATE: <2022-05-13 Fri 20:06>
+#+SCRIPTS: ((script (@ (src "/static/js/oneko.js"))))
+
+Last night -- Thursday, May 12th, 2022, at 22:17L -- my cat was put to rest. I
+tend to avoid publishing anything non-technical to this website, but she
+deserves to be remembered, and this is the only place I can be confident my
+writing will last. She'd been with me through most of my life, always bringing
+me comfort when I was stressed, and keeping watch over me when I was sick. I owe
+this to her.
+
+[[./kona-1.jpg]]
+
+I begged my parents for a cat when I was young. It took several years, but they
+eventually obliged and adopted my first cat, Donovan. He was put down a few
+years later. My parents got Kona because they noticed how hurt I was to have
+lost my best friend. We named her Kona after the Cree word for snow, ᑰᓇ, because
+she had a beautiful, bright white coat of fur.
+
+Compared to Donovan, Kona was docile. She never tried to escape. She didn't even
+like to be let outside. She always stayed alongside us.
+
+[[./kona-2.jpg]]
+
+She was occasionally playful, but for the most part would spend her days bathing
+in the sun, or finding little hiding places next to my dad. When it got cold,
+she would rest herself on my chest or lap. She was a great companion, for all
+the years that she was with us.
+
+She especially liked to join me when I was playing video games. One time, I was
+playing Metal Gear Solid, and she trotted up to the TV -- following Snake as he
+ran across the screen and batting at him with her paw.
+
+Batting at stuff with her paw was her thing. If I walked past her without
+petting her, she'd either bat at me, or be a little more aggressive and dig into
+my leg with her claws. She also frequently beat up the other cat in the house..
+and other times, they were the best of friends. They made an excellent team for
+killing the mice in the basement -- Kona would find them, and then go bat Mitzi
+until Mitzi killed it.
+
+[[./kona-3.jpg]]
+
+When I moved back in with my parents at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic
+(when UMass kicked us all out and went online for classes) my younger brother
+voluntarily moved his rig into the basement[fn:1], and Kona started to hang out
+with him. She'd sit on his desk, accompanying him while he programmed or played
+video games.
+
+She'd even accompany him when he was working out in the home gym. Karl told me
+once about how he was mid-way through a set, and Kona hopped up on his chest and
+made herself comfortable.
+
+[[./kona-4.jpg]]
+
+She didn't come up from the basement often. She'd spend her days with Karl, and
+her nights curled up on my dad's chest. Near the end, the only times I would see
+her is when I'd feed her. I had a hard time noticing her deteriorating health.
+Only really a suspicion -- on her last day -- when she came up to my desk while
+I was working, and refused the cat food I fetched for her. Karl and my partner
+were more keen to realizing that things were going downhill, so we took her to
+the emergency vet that night.
+
+And that was the most I've cried. Ever. Kona was my girl. She really had an
+impact on me in the time we had together. Life is never going to be the same
+without her little mewls in the middle of the night.
+
+Farewell, Kona. I will always love you.
+
+/(The cat following your cursor, if you have Javascript enabled, is courtesy of [[https://adryd.com/][Ariana]].)/
+
+---
+
+[fn:1] To this day, I think he actually drew the long straw. He's right next to the home gym, the router, he's got plenty of space...