Monkey would’ve turned 18 today. He passed over a month ago breaking my heart. He was always by my side and gave me tons of love, laughs, conversations and happy memories. He couldn’t have been a more perfect cat and companion and was always giving me foot rubs and cuddling up to sleep at the foot of my bed. From his acrobatic kitten days of scaling everything, doing flips and sprints to hard days of working through surgeries and illnesses he remained sweet as can be and tough as a tank. He loved to talk and purr with a most impressive vocabulary and would greet me at the door when I came home. He could open cupboards and propped doors and one day I came home to maxi pads with little teeth marks in the plastic packaging spread around the living room that he had fetched from a bathroom cupboard. He used to do a trick where I would swing my leg up in an arch and he would jump up and wrap his arms around my leg and swing off until one day he kicked off and landed on his back on a hard floor, that was the last time for that! Moths were the only thing he enjoyed hunting and the one time he ended far up a tree he was terrified and I had to coax and help him down. There aren’t enough words to say how wonderful and beautiful he was, I miss him a lot but am glad he doesn’t have to suffer through illness anymore. I’m forever grateful and fortunate for all the love and happy memories he left me with.