The Sisters

Nala

It started out with one. My first ever cat that my parents let me call my own. Nala, a grey tabby, came into my life when my sister started working at our local humane society. She was my first love, my best friend, and even my cuddle bug. She was always by my side for so long. My family adopted her when I was around eight-years-old. Nala was three-years-old. I was the only one in the house that she would be nice to. Everytime my other family would touch her, she would start hissing and biting. Sometimes she was a pain to me, but I still loved her.

When I was fourteen, my dad had passed away. My parents were divorced, so it cut deep. Nala was the only one I had to keep with me for most of my depression and anxiety that soon came out to light after his funeral. She turned into my therapy cat, walking around the house when I was feeling sad, to even laying on my stomach while I slept. It was like she knew I was going through something difficult at the age I was.

After a year, on the weekend of Memorial Day, she started getting deathly sick. It had started one night. She was crawling around, throwing up food and water, unable to stand up correctly. We had looked up places that we could go to, but since it was Memorial Day weekend, we couldn't take her to the vet. The next morning ended up being a nightmare. She passed under my bed. Those months were the roughest months of my life. Until two baby girls came into my life.

Mittens and Skye

I wasn't expecting them to come into my life a few months before we had to go on a New York trip to see family. A family friend had called my mom saying that four kittens were brought in to the animal hospital that we go to. They were free to take and needed homes. I had picked out one, but her sister wouldn't get off of my mom for longer than ten seconds. So- we took both.

I named one Mittens, for her white paws and black coat, and the other Skye, for her grey coat reminding me of the sky on the day we got them. On the way home, they were climbing all over me. Mittens sat in my lap for the majority of the way to our house. Skye had decided to roam around the car we were in, meowing every single time she could. They were incredibly precious, innocent little beans.

The first couple of days were rocky, because of the older lady cat we had in the house. Her name was Pumpkin. In my grandmother's terms, she was a bundle of orange sweetness. We had found Pumpkin at a Petco after the Nashville flood that had happened in the 2000's (not the 2010's.) She was just a kitten and we brought her home in a shoe box on my fall break week. Pumpkin was a little scared of Mittens and Skye for the first few days, because of age difference between them.

Eventually, Pumpkin just took them in as her own. Whenever Mittens and Skye needed cuddles, it was either me or Pumpkin that they went to as kittens. Mittens ended up following me everywhere, while Skye became my mom's cuddle bug in her room. Mittens followed me around a lot until she got a bit older. Both of them became quite the mousers, catching any mice that would find their way into the kitchen.

There was one day, on my dad's birthday, I was just feeling really down and needed somebody. My friends weren't answering my texts, my boyfriend at the time didn't want to speak to me, and it was just Mittens and I. I remember crying really loudly before Mittens forcing herself in my blanket and under my arms, purring really loud. I think I fell asleep instantly because I just felt so much calmer when I woke back up and feeling her lick my cheeks. It was so nice just to know she was there for me.

Fast Forward- Present Day

Now its 2021, I have my own apartment with my girls. Along with my fiancé's cat, Cheeto. Mittens and Skye are five-ish years old now, Skye looks like she ate a watermelon and Mittens just looks chunky. Mittens still follows me around and can't handle not being in the room without me. Skye has become the most lovey-dovey cat I have ever met. She gets it from the cat who raised her, Pumpkin, and now loves everybody who walks in.

I learned a very valuable lesson from getting my girls. Always adopt. Adopting an animal has always made the difference. Many animals in Humane Society's never see daylight again, due to kill-shelters and even just old age from not being adopted. And even when you do, just know something special.

It starts with one.