Ali:
Well, to shorten the story, my sister brought Ali home when I was about 13. Ali was supposed to be her cat, but she became my cat (she followed me around the house and slept in my bed). When we moved in '96, Ali went to live w/ my sister and then my mom. She then came to live back w/ us for a while until my sister got married and then went back w/ her. My sister's husband didn't like her and threatened to take her to the shelter, so my mom took her back. Well, my mom has a huge Chow-Chow and Ali was terrified of her, so once my husband and I got our own place (we were living in a condo that didn't allow pets for a while) we took Ali. So she now has a forever home w/ us.

Jack:
We got Jack shortly after we got Ali. We thought that Ali could use a playmate. My husband was being kind of picky about what color cat he wanted...I think he would have taken whatever color cat home, but he said that he wanted a gray cat and it had to be shorthaired. So, off to the shelter we went. We didn't have any luck the first time we went (all the cats were adopted!), so they told us to check their website daily for new arrivals. So, I checked everyday and low and behold, I saw Jack. I called the shelter just to make sure that he wasn't adopted already and headed out there after work. Jack was in a cage w/ his brother and was the smallest of all his litter, but I fell in love w/ him the moment I saw him. So, I filled out the papers and adopted him.