Last year on this day, we said goodbye to Corey, our cat of 13 years. Named Corazon, because as a kitten he came home with us after Amani and Marcus’ wedding in Greenbelt in 2010.

Corey was a gorgeous grey fireplug of a cat, with short legs and tail and big, round eyes. He used to remind me of James Cagney, in his more thuggish roles. He weighed almost twenty pounds and never met a situation he wasn’t confident he could bash through.

He was a surprise addition to our household and it took a while before the pecking order settled in with the older cats. But eventually they became friends, particularly him and Jer. But after he became a solo cat, Rudi and I made the reluctant decision that he might not appreciate a kitten, and decided to stay a trio for a while.

Because of that, and because of his very gregarious nature (he took after Rudi), he was a very doglike cat. My friend Neal, who catsit for us several times, expressed surprise that Corey would stop eating (his favorite activity) to stare at Neal in dismay if it seemed like he was going to leave too quickly. He liked being in the middle of a party, with a particular flair for stealing the lime tortilla chips. He’d demand to be spooned on the couch or to hang out draped over me. He wanted most to have Rudi and me both in sight, but if we were in separate places, he’d follow Rudi until he got settled and then come back to me until I finally took mercy on him and took us to bed.

I was very much his person, and it hurt tremendously that I got so little time with him after I got back from a caregiving hiatus last fall. But that time away meant that he got to have more intense bonding time with Rudi and that was good for them both. And he waited for me to come home before getting really sick, so at least I was able to be there at the end.

Because he’d been a street kitten for a bit, he had no interest in returning outside, so he was safe to let out into the entryway. We knew he wouldn’t try to escape. He’d run out and then when I clicked at him, he’d head right back inside.

He loved people food. In addition to the lime tortilla chips, he liked corn, greens from the garden or farmers market, oatmeal, popsicles, puff pastry, and candy corn.

He loved catnip toys, particularly a banana that he unstuffed, rendering it just a banana peel. He thought the little bugs that lived in the bathroom were fascinating and he’d try grabbing some of them, but never the pill bugs, much to my surprise. He enjoyed disabling and dispensing cockroaches, and my late-night squeals when I’d discover a gigantic one somewhere in the apartment (we live in an urban basement; they happen) never failed to bring him sprinting. He was also an early alert system for them because he’d hop on the counter only to hunt them, so we knew if he was up there we should be extra vigilant.

I miss him still, because he loved me so thoroughly and unconditionally. But we mourned him for ten months before we expanded our family again, and I think he’d be glad that we’d opened our hearts once more.

Love you, Corey. You were a very good kitten.