14 years was not enough

Not sure what I ever did to deserve such a patient cat. We got Opal and Sapphire when I was 8. Sapphire was my mom's. I held Opal in my arms so much as a child that she often demanded to be held later in life. More than once I had to cook one handed while holding her with the other arm.

Sapphire on the left, and my baby Opal on the right. They used to be so much darker.

They were nearly inseparable before we lost Sapph to a kidney failure in 2010.

Mom thinks I anthropomorphized her, but I swear she smiled. Sometimes. Not all the time.

They found a mass on Opal's tongue in March. Things went downhill fast from there. She's stoned on painkillers here.

Stoned again. But she purred whenever I moved. And when I handed her over to my mom she actually looked at me and followed me with her gaze as I moved around.

In the last month or so of her life my parents got horribly sick so I had to avoid the house. They both caught the flu and then pnuemonia. Then when they started to feel better, I got strep and a cold. Still needed to see my baby though.

We didn't give her any painkillers they day we put her down. She wasn't as agitated as normal and we wanted to have her alert when we said goodbye.

This is our last picture before they put the iv in her.
I've lost pets before but I was never there when they went. They were mom's, or my step dad's. Opal was the first pet I ever had that was mine. Just mine. She was my emotional support before I ever heard the word depression. My sleep problems started when I joined the military and left her. The vet gave us 2-3 months after we found the mass but she was ready to go in one.
My heart hurts.