The girl in my life

Gabi is not too far from my mind, but she is at my parent's home. Ebi, no longer the puppy, is also there, domiciled and giving my mom some needed pet love. I wasn't expecting to take on another pet while in China, but the opportunity arose, and I have a new feline in my life, a kitten, calico, and I've named her Loopi. She is probably the first kitten I've raised in over 20 years, so her playfulness, her acquiescence to my moments of overwhelming need to cuddle her, her demanding mews, her high spirited antics, her never ending motor of a purr, her dog like devotion which includes sitting between my feet when I'm on the throne (er, does she not understand the need for privacy in those moments? How would she feel if I bothered her while she was eliminating?), and her tiny warmth on these cold nights, how wonderful it is, how exasperating, how sweet and loving (or is that just me, anthropomorphic as ever?).
She is fearless, lets me rub any part of her body, rarely attempts to squirm away, and enjoys giving me love nips. I feel bad leaving her all alone so much of the time, but she hasn't started acting neurotic. On Christmas, I had four guests over for a long brunch and she ended up playing with everyone. A kitten definitely makes for easy conversation starters.
May she live long, purring her way through a good life.

Passing

I made my weekly call home and was sad to hear that my mom's longtime feline companion has died. I met Mika when she was given to my mom by a Japanese client of hers. She was 2 or 3 years old at the time, and that was in the early 90's. She continued to terrorize any other animal throughout her reign as queen cat, making it seemingly impossible to bring in another animal. Through events outside her control, I eased the dog and my own cat into her domain last year and early this year respectively. Needless to say she probably didn't think too highly of me at the end of her life.
She died quietly, my mom found her by the bed, in perpetual sleep. RIP.