My brother gave Terra to me as a "moving away present" when I left home to move to Cleveland. My kitty at the time, Misty, was getting on in years and wouldn't adapt well going from a 4-bedroom house to a 1-bedroom apartment. My mother volunteered to keep her at home. My brother knew I'd be lonely without a cat (I'd always had one), so he gave me Terra about 2 weeks before I moved.

About a year after I moved, my hubby and I decided that Terra really needed a friend (she was getting really destructive when hubby and I weren't home). That same week a co-worker announced that she had found this pretty white odd-eyed kitty out in the country and that she was looking for a home for her. I checked with hubby and we brought her home the next day. She was in really bad shape and the vet didn't think she'd make it (she didn't tell us that until after she was recovered). But now Misao is fat and happy and well loved.

About a year after that, hubby and I moved into a house. We had been volunteering at a local humane society for about a year and the entire time we'd been there, so had this cat Hemlock. Hubby and I talked about it and decided that once we moved we'd bring Hemlock home with us if she was still there. Well the time came and she was, so we brought her home and renamed her Hana (Hemlock is no kind of name for a cat )

It seems we're developing a trait of adopting a cat every October...I wonder what this year will bring.