When A Pet Adopts You...

Last year my daughter was convinced that she wanted a puppy, and her dad was ready and willing to let her have one. But thanks to the foresight of my mother-in-law, we simply borrowed her new puppy for a week. It only took one turn at picking up the dog waste, which was fresh and warm, to change my daughter's mind about puppy ownership. Not particularly being a dog person myself, I secretly rejoiced. It's not that I don't like dogs, I just don't like the dog maintenance that would fall to "ME" no matter how much my husband and daughter proclaimed otherwise.

On the other hand, I have always been a cat person. The death of both of my cats after twenty long years, however, convinced me to take a break from pets of any kind. I enjoyed two years of pet free, odor free, hair free, litter free peace and quiet, that is until recently. That is until, we were adopted by Max. Max, the  year old, black and white, male cat that showed up in our yard one day and refused to leave. He sat at our back door and cried to be let in which of course encouraged my daughter to champion his cause vehemently. "Pleeease, can't we let him in?" she pleaded with the cuteness factor that only a seven year old possesses.

"Daddy would kill Mommy if I let that cat in the house," I said. Because you see, my husband has definitely never, ever, ever, been a cat person! But as I told him about the situation that night when he called from work, he began to melt. His attitude towards cats had not changed, but his daddy would do anything for his baby girl instinct had kicked in. That night on his way home from work he stopped at an all night grocery store to buy cat food in case the cat came back the next day.

Although both my husband and I looked for the cat all day, we did not see hide nor hair of him. Soon it was time for me to go pick my daughter up from school and on the ride home I told her of her father's decision. She was over come with a joy so great that it would not be dampened even when I cautioned that the cat might not come back or that  he may already have had a home. We quickly arrived and climbed out of the car, and who do you suppose ran to greet my daughter? That's right, the cat. Being familiar with the cats that roam the neighborhood, I was relatively sure this cat had been dumped, and so I told my daughter she was allowed to keep him. No sooner had I opened the door a crack and the cat my daughter would later dub Max ran into the house, looked around as if to say so this is my new home, and started purring happily.

Not even one week had gone by when all of us began to feel that Max was family, yes even my formerly anti-cat husband. Thinking about how easily Max had adopted us and we had adopted him made me think of two of my author friends who wrote books based on similar experiences of adopting pets.

The first is Buddy Finds a Home by Rachel Edmiston. This story of how Rachel's family found a very imperfect dog and how he made a perfect addition to their family is a good lesson in how love can cause us to overlook differences. My daughter truly enjoyed this book, especially when she realized it was a true story. I would recommend this book for children 6 to 8.

The second is a cute book called Grady the Gray Cat by Lori Moore. This adorable flip-it-over book offers two stories about Grady the gray cat. Side one tells the story of Grady's adoption, and side two offers the story of Grady's new toy firetruck. Told in rhyme, this book is an excellent choice for a read-aloud to young children. Lori did an excellent job of making me wonder what will happen to Grady next.

Signing off for now with wishes for a bright and beautiful day!