The sweetest soul I have ever known in my life expired today. We had a long life together, not always a good life, but I could always trust and believe that Rufus would be there to love back together the pieces when I was falling apart. Insistently. Incessantly. Patiently. We should all be so lucky, to have someone willing to dig us out of the blankets like the turd we are feeling, when the depression makes the outside world feel too mean and hard. After 11 years of being an apartment-dwelling city kitty, his final wishes were to go outside, every day. And we did. Me, trailing behind a respectful distance as his old legs took him shorter and shorter distances between quick rests in the woods, until he found the perfect spot to consider his long kitty-cat life in. Him sighing against my shoulder and letting his tired bones relax into my arms when it was finally time to go inside and struggle through another night of Dying. Through his...