our adoption

Callie is an eighteen-month-old calico cat who shares our home. She adopted us in April of 2006, chock-full of attitude from the start. Mark and I totally understood from the beginning that we did not own her, but rather she owned us. I’ve heard it explained as ‘dogs have owners and cats have staff ’. How true!

Prior to finding Callie, I searched the internet daily, checking the County Animal Shelter and the SPCA sites for a kitten that might choose us. We knew we wanted a little girl and had chosen her name before the search began. One weekend when Andrew and Sheila were visiting, we were pulling into a Blockbuster lot on Friday night, when Shelia asked if we were going to look at the kittens in PetsMart. We went across the parking lot to the pet store, and there she was, meowing from a lonesome cage, crying because her siblings had already adopted families. I held her, and that was it - I was in love. Saturday morning, we were hers. Many thanks to Sheila!

Long before our adoption, I had been shopping all around town for supplies. Some of the items I bought were a large, sturdy scratching post; a litterbox just for kittens; a warm, soft kitten bed; stylish water and food dishes, a brush and nail clippers; and too many toys.

The very first night, Callie slept on our bed between Mark and me. The next morning, Mark awoke to a little one lying on his pillow, just above his head, with a little paw resting on his eyelid. How totally adorable is that?

Callie quickly adapted to life in her new surroundings. It wasn’t long before she learned to have her wishes and desires granted. Of course, we doted on her, making her training of us a great deal easier! And, this was just the beginning…

"When I play with my cat, who knows if I am not a pastime to her more than she is to me?"
Montaigne