We first met each other at a shelter when he was just a handful of months old, he was only a little kitten at that point.

Even then he was a spicy little kitten demanding my lap, holding on to the threads of my pants for dear life while hissing and spitting about it until I let him go, and even swiped at me through the cage doors when I had to leave to clean other cages.

I took care of him for a good couple years there, and even remember everyone else being surprised that I could move him so easily without him getting angry at me, he had even stopped swiping at me through the cage doors.

Not too long after that we had a chance to bring him home and we took it, I was even excited and happy that it was Max who we were getting, he even relaxed against Jane when she went to pick him up from the shelter, and saving him from being put down.

The very first night he was home, he stayed by my side and protected me while I slept.

We didn't have him that long before we had to moved to a new place due to Jane's (my partner of nearly 12 years now) father passing away and leaving the house to her family, and we were afraid he wouldn't like the change, but he took to the new place quite well, was even running up and down the crowded hallways with ease. However, in doing this he shut off our water making us think the water pipes had frozen, and we had to wrestle old, rotten kibble away from him several times that day as well.

Throughout the years he stuck by us, and he was happy as could be, getting to eat whatever he wanted, coming and going as he pleased, and having a big open field.

He would always knew when something was off with one of us, and would try to comfort us and stay at our sides until we felt better.

Of course he kept some bad habits, like swiping people if they didn't give him the right amount of attention or did something he didn't like. For instance, one night Jane was out all night and the first thing he did when she got home was follow her and swat at her ankles.

We eventually got another kitten to enrich his life a bit. He didn't accept her at first, but, Gadget didn't give him any time to ignore her and they eventually became best friends and rivaling assholes to each other on some days. My fondest memories of those two together was when Gadget was just about a month old she flew right into Max's face with all limbs and claws extended and another time Max was sleeping on a blanket on top of the dryer, but Gadget wanted the spot so she bit him right on his back left paw pad and held on for a minute making Max create an "rowrowowowow" sound. When she disappeared though, we all took it pretty hard, Max included.

Then we got Chance and Daimona just a couple of months later, and again, at first he was hissy and a cold towards them, but he came around in time to them. Though sadly, Chance had to learn the hard way that Max didn't like being messed with. Max and Chance still played and lied together, though Max, it seemed at least, was trying to hide it from the rest of us, because whenever we would catch him being nice to Chance and he spotted us he would immediately start swatting at Chance.

Throughout all of this though Max was my little buddy, but more importantly (to me at least) he was the first cat in my life that chose me to be his human. He almost always hung out around me and even would push his head against my laptop to be let into my lap like he was still kitten and we were back at the shelter, and just like then he would purr so loud you could hear him, even over all the noise. He was the first cat that chose me and it meant the world to me, and the fact that he would let me and only me rub his belly without getting clawed to pieces always made me happy, though I did feel bad that he wouldn't let Jane or Riley (My stepson and partner's kid) do the same.

Then recently, he got sick with a deadly feline disease FIP, and it killed me on the inside watching our little void slowly deteriorate, while not being able to do anything he enjoyed or eat any of the food or treats he loved (or just eating a bite or two). I even feel terrible about making Jane have to deal with the fallout of my emotions while she was dealing with he own grief, but I did appreciate every single bit she was doing for me, and she knows that I trust her more than I even trust myself at times, and that is why I gave her full rights to Max's health when I was in a bad state of mind.

Finally, on February, 9 2026 early in the morning we had him put down humanely and even the vet was surprised that the shot only took 2 seconds to put him to sleep. It hurt us all so deeply in different ways, when we left it felt like my body was screaming at me to go back inside and get Max even part of me questioning why we were just leaving him there.

I think he even said his own goodbye to me later that same day, while I was warming my back next to our woodstove. I felt something big rub against my leg and even saw a big, black shape in the corner of my eye.

I only hope we get to meet again someday, and I hope he curls up in my lap just like old times, but for now, I hope wherever he is, that he is having a the best time of his life and having fun with Gadget again.