Moving In

Two years ago, when I moved into the neighbourhood where I now live, there could be nothing worse. I remember the time as a time of upheaval; I abandoned the life that me and my family had held onto for eleven years for something new, something different. I hated the neighbourhood. The school was awful, the kids bratty and the teachers inept. Oh well.

I fought several long, difficult battles. Some I lost and others I won. One of the ones I won ended up with me staying at a fairly decent school, and returning for grade eight. One I lost I had fought with my dad-his illness killed him.

So I can only imagine the difficulties that Kim and the cats faced. They moved into a place not even a block away from where I lived. My friends mentioned it to me when we were walking to school the next day.

We went to their window to see the kitties a little while later. In the window I saw the cat I really wanted-a black, fluffy, three month old kitten that could fit with ease in one hand. Little did I know that he came with a brother attached.

The next day I was a volunteer. Personally, I think the best time we ever had at that shelter was the first few days; nobody fought. The cats were happiest.

The shelter was always dirty, for numerous reasons. One was that the previous tennants had been ungrateful jerks who left the place filthy, so that even after two steam cleans of the carpet it was still almost black. Seventy-four were cats of varying sizes.

But I still claim those days to be the best ones we had. No fighting, no arguing, and most of all, we were just there to help out the kitties.

I remember both the moves for the cats. Most distinctly, I remember when my two babies moved in with me, at four months old. They were a literal disaster area as far as I was concerned. It took me a few weeks to convince my mom and grandfather we should get the kitties, and they gave us the instantaneous unpleasant surprise: turns out, mom's allergic. (One of the kitties loves her for this)

I'll always be grateful that the shelter moved in and let my kittens move in, too.
~Dianna