The purfect delivery

For as long as I can remember my sister, my Mom, and I always had a cat as a member of our family. How these three cats came into our lives at different times always seemed to be serendipitous. Our current cat and featured UPS worked in the photos, Carti, came into our lives in an unbelievable and mysterious way. Some might say he was the perfect delivery. Everyone we told this story to said it was a blessing in disguise and that we had to keep him. Reincarnation? The never ending soul? What do you believe in? Before I tell all the details here is a backstory for some context. Our first cat Simba was not the initial choice of my parents. A trip to the shelter in which the first kitten they wanted did not get along with my sister, who was around five years old at the time, proved that they needed to make another choice. They saw a black and white kitten that they were drawn to by his sweet and calm nature and knew they wanted to adopt him. Most importantly he got along with the whole family and adjusted quickly. Fast forward a couple years later another cat joined our family who came to us after being found at an abandon house. Simba and Nala, who we lovingly named after our favorite movie at the time, "The Lion King" got along well and we were glad they had each other. After many years of playing together, eating next to each other, and sharing toys and treats they were getting older and unfortunately started showing signs of declining health. We sadly had to put our girl Nala down due to an aggressive form of bone cancer that to us seemed to come out of no where. That same year Simba who was 21 was exhibiting alarming signs that something was wrong with his health. We took him to the vet and because of his old age his body was shutting down rapidly in many ways. We had no choice but to put him down as well. We were heartbroken losing both cats in that time period but found solace in the fact the they did not have to suffer anymore. The day we put Simba down I said that I did not want anymore cats for a while but little did I know I did not have much choice in the matter. After that difficult day the three of us were asleep in bed when my Mom awoke to the sound of what she thought was a baby animal; maybe a rabbit, or a fawn or perhaps just people walking by making noise. Being in that exhausted state she did not think much of it and went back to bed. Early the next morning as my Mom was leaving on her way to work, she was approached by our neighbor who exclaimed to her that A kitten was meowing outside our door all night. The kitten was relentless as if he was trying to get into our house or get our attention so she decided to take him in for the night. My Mom listened in disbelief as we had just put Simba down the day before. My mom did not know what to think and was too shocked in that moment about the coincidence. Later that day she informed my sister and I about the kitten and we were amazed and a little spooked. How is it that the same day Simba passed on a kitten we had never seen before in our neighborhood just happened to appear in the middle of the night outside our house. Mind you our house is not the first one when you enter the neighborhood so it was even more strange to us. He was about four or five months old, very small, and looked like he did not have a home. Despite him getting pee on me the very first day in our house and hiding out under the couch we decided we just had to keep this little miracle kitten. We had never been without a pet before so him coming the way he did seemed like a sign from the universe. It gives us chills to think that we put Simba to sleep and about twelve hours later a baby kitten showed up on our doorstep. He fit right in with us and we gave him just as much love as he gave us. We could tell he was grateful for us giving him a home and he brightens our day and always makes us smile. Carti has a big personality; he is especially odd, extremely loving, cuddly, crazy, and always needs to be the center of attention. Carti is a sign to me that I will always need a cat as a companion in my life. That is why this Halloween we decided to dress him up as a UPS worker because he was our "special package".