It is sad to lose a pet, I wish you comfort. This is the cycle with pets, joy (plus stepping barefoot in a hairball) and then such loss when they are gone. I wouldn't trade it for pet free life. It keeps us in touch with our mortality and aging. They had a good home with you.
They did, I know they were as happy as a cat can be, and I wouldn’t trade this sorrow for never having known them, I think that simple relationships like this are a gift from God, and a way to teach us compassion. My suffering will ebb, replaced by fond memories, but for them, life was a joy, and I take comfort in in that. I meant the world to them. Their last memories were of me, my voice comforting them, my hands stroking them. That’s not a bad way to go.