So Long to My Buddy, Kobe

My beloved Kobe died today and my heart is breaking. Kobe was my buddy, my shadow, the most wonderful cat I've ever had. He wasn't so friendly to other people until he knew them for a while. He knew my Bill for more than seven years and only sat on his lap a couple of times (one being just last week), although he slept on his head once (photo below). So cute.
But he was madly in love with me, it was as if he wanted to be attached to me. As soon as I sat, anywhere, he'd jump into my lap. I'm not a person who sits in one place for very long but he'd stay as long as possible (forever, if he could) and when I'd start to get up he'd whine, and then as I walked by him he'd bat at me, as if to say, "Hey, I'm not done here."
After I lost my last cat Benson twelve years ago I thought maybe I wouldn't get another cat, I thought it might be nice not to deal with all the cat hair and the litter tracked everywhere. But it felt so lonely in my house that after a couple weeks I went to the shelter looking for an older cat, at least a year old, because that kitten stage can be so trying, even though there's nothing more irresistible or adorable.
I wandered around the shelter, talking to the people who worked there and listening to their descriptions of the various personalities. And then I walked by a cage with a little black kitten who meowed and put out his paw to me. "Hey, here I am. Take me."
That was my Kobe. So much for getting a year-old cat.
Until about a week ago he stood on the bed every morning when I got up and meowed and put out his paw to me, just like he did when he was a baby.
To people who've never had cats and who think they're very snooty and aloof I can tell you they're not. They're independent, yes, but they're loving little buddies. How could there be anything better than a cat curled up in your lap, purring like a lawn mower?
It's very sad and empty in my house tonight and my heart is breaking.