That really came as a shock. I was upset by Bowie, Glenn Frey, George Martin...but I honestly think this is the death I'm the most upset by. I got heavy into Star Wars in high school; I had all the Extended Universe novels (I kept my favorite one, and I'm disappointed that they're no longer canon), and I every so often wonder why the hell I don't have the trilogy yet on DVD. Every time I saw a mention of her hospitalization, I would vaguely hope she wouldn't be next, but it sounded like she was improving, so I genuinely didn't think it would happen. It just about knocked the wind out of me when I found out she was gone.

Rainbow was a tough old girl. Super-petite, but feisty as all get-out. She was a barn kitten when we got her, and she never was fully domesticated. She didn't need us for anything, but she always came home. We think she's haunting the house we grew up in.