K.C. was a lumberyard kitten, brought home when she was smaller than my outstretched palm - with needlesharp tiny little teeth. For the first few days she disappeared in the basement and you would only know she was there by the fact that something must have been eating her food...she finally became accustomed to us, and us to her, but she never lost the independent, stubborn streak that so befitted her. Even after many nights of playing chase the food. When she was barely 8 weeks old, she made off with a drumstick from a covered plate in the kitchen, dragged it down two flights of stairs and put it by her bowl...the same flights of stairs she stumbled down years later with a plastic bag over her head (she was unhurt). Very early on, she developed a skin pouch under her belly that almost acted like a rudder as she ran around the house, in the backyard, or up at the cottage. People would look and say my god what a fat cat, but we knew the truth.

Her favourite toy was a pink and blue ball - had to be pink and blue - no other combination of colours would ever do...she loved hiding in woodpiles or under cottages - her early life in the lumberyard I guess...loved chasing mice - caught a few in her time, including one this year in our house - and one time, one time only in 15 years, managed to swat a bird as it flew by the upper deck in the townhouse we used to live in. She would tell us when to go to bed, would come down with me every morning as I went out in the back...she loved 3 year old canadian cheddar and chicken in any form...she kept my wife company on the nights and days I was at work or away, and never failed to purr when you stroked the back of her neck. She had the cutest dot on the top of her head that her mom loved to mess around with. She loved (even though at first she hated to admit it) being brushed, and was quick to let people know her displeasure if you dared tried to pat her belly. She narrowly escaped being declawed by worming her way into her nonna's heart...a good thing given the houses and places we wound up living in. She was the toughest cat on four paws behind a pane of glass or a door, but the biggest chicken you could ever find face to face with another cat. She had a great life, with people who truly loved her for every minute of those 15 years. She died today, peacefully in her sleep on a cushion in the backyard, the same place she would go for afternoon naps everyday - heart attack or something else I guess. We're burying her tomorrow at the cottage, a place she loved, and a place that no matter where we end up living, we'll always be able to visit her at. You were such a special part of our lives Gatto, we'll miss you forever, and so does Monkees, nonno, nonna, and your aunt Melanie...

Love Mom and Dad