It's Not Just A Pet, It's Family

Tigger (1), Bootsie (19), Gramps (3), Pooder (17), Max (1), Outside Kitty (1), and MJ (3). These are the names of all the cats that have been a part of life. The numbers represent the amount of years we shared as family. Of these seven cats, some of them left our home as quickly as they came in, but Bootsie and Pooder were the "lifers."
Bootsie was the sister I never had. We grew up together through parts of three decades. We snuggled through the Blizzard of '78, "cried" when I lost my first and then second boyfriend in the mid-eighties, and lounged in the sun during the summer of 1990 after I graduated college. She was always there for me.
If Bootsie was my sister, then Poody was truly my first baby boy. He fit in the palm of my hand when I adopted him and he grew into a strong, fifteen pound cat. He was always so loving and cuddly. He would sense if I were sick or sad and jump up to my chest to rub my face. Every night he would sleep on or next to my pillow. He would follow me around the house or around the yard. We were connected on so many levels.
Some of the saddest moments in my life were having to say goodbye to Bootsie and Pooder because they weren't just my pets, they were my loving family members.