Once again, we are cat people. My daughter’s birthday is tomorrow and she has wanted a kitten for a couple of years now. We finally decided it was time, and she picked up her new cat yesterday afternoon. My wife took her to our vet and she found a cat to her liking. Mom found one, too, so we have a couple of kittens running around the house now.

When I met my wife, she had a cat, but she was living with a friend who was allergic to cats, so her cat was living somewhere else at the time. For a while, I was unaware of the cats existence. She moved shortly after we began dating, and the cat came home. Now, this was not great news to me. I was not a cat person. She grew up with cats as pets. I came from a dog family. It’s not exactly the Capulets and the Montagues, but it was different to be a dog person and now have a cat around. I didn’t like cats and thought they were stupid animals. However, over time - sometime after we were married - I learned to like the cat. It actually was a pretty smart cat, which surprised me. Later, we added a second cat. This cat - a kitten at the time - took a liking to me, but was not the sharpest knife in the drawer. But I grew to like both of the cats a lot. When we were moving from Little Rock to Huntsville, Alabama, about 5 years ago, we gave the cats a way, and I admit, I was a little sad.

So, after 5 years of cat-free living, the house is now full of the sounds of meowing and purring. We’re looking forward to having fun with our two new kittens for years to come. That is, of course, if they can survive my 2-year-old son.