a brief history on pets

I grew up with cats. My mom bred Siamese cats when we were very young. We weren’t a big cattery; just a litter here and there. Our job as kids was to play with and carry the kittens around so that they would be well adjusted, people-friendly cats. Eventually, our cats were all fixed and we settled on five remaining - Curious Columbus, Senior Don Gato, Shadow, Omar, Mia - who each left us one at a time. We have pictures of my mom with three cats sitting all on top of and around her in the living room of the house where my dad still lives. “Cory” (Curious Columbus) was my special cat; I remember standing at the top of the stairs and calling his name every night before I went to bed. He would come running and sleep with me.

At the end of college I was visiting Colorado with my boyfriend-of-the-time. After a day of hiking we stopped at a rural general store literally with a box of puppies. This little husky-cattle-dog mix was the cutest pooch I had ever seen, and when you are young, who really needs to think? So flew him back to Rhode Island with Sydney, and became a dog mama. Sydney was my companion of my 20s, sharing my life in San Francisco, and eventually graduate school in Berkeley. Sydney was a 65 lb companion dog who went with me everywhere. If I ran to the store for milk, Sydney jumped in the back seat. I still can’t believe that B knew Sydney, because they seem like different eras. But Syd was aged when B and I met and B wept with me as I held Sydney in my arms as the great beast passed gently from injection, saved from a more gruesome death due to kidney failure. We were so young then.

Several years after Syd I added two Siamese cats to the mix - Leo and Simon. They were purchased from a lame breeder, and were underweight and flea bitten when I got them - pathetic creatures, really. But they became incredible cats and companions. Like many Siamese, these loving creatures defied cat stereotypes; they were social, playful, friendly. B was not much of a cat person, but Leo and Simon came with the N-package, and I guess that showed that B really liked me. ❤️

B and I got Lexi shortly after we were married. We were yearning to start a family and a dog seemed like a good beginning. Lexi is still with us … slower but happy, at the ripe age of 16. It’s hard to remember her now as a young, energetic pup. Who ever dreamed she would outlive B?

During their youngest years, the kids had two cats and a dog (Leo, Simon, Lexi). When they were babies we took Lexi on hikes with Byorns and jogging strollers. TE was especially attached to Simon, the blue point Siamese. TE regularly announced that Simon was her best friend in the whole wide world. Every picture or story was about Simon. We played hangman in restaurants, and every single time Tessa’s word was 5 letters - S.I.M.O.N. We had to pretend to guess other letters first.

B had minor allergies to the cats and it became understood that when these cats passed, we would be a dog-only household. Leo died when TG was around four, and Simon, about a year later. TE was bereft as Simon’s passing. Over the years, the kids occasionally asked for cats and I would always playfully say: “It’s either dad or cats, and I choose dad!”

Unfortunately, we did not have that choice. If we did, we still would not have cats.

But the earth has continued to spin, the sun rises in the East each morning, and we are ready for new beginnings. For now I have a triple double: Two kids, two dogs, two cats. These pets give more back than they ask of us.

Loving to hear your pet-epoch stories!