​     As this year comes to an end, I have to give thanks for our pets.  We now have 5 cats, 2 dogs, and 2 horses.  The horses just visit from next door, but we'll count them in!
     I was once a no-pet kinda woman.  I didn't even want a goldfish. Once I met my husband, he turned my way of thinking around 360 degrees. 
     Here's how we got our first pet in Texas:  Hubby (then live-in boyfriend) told me he'd seen a cat on our courtyard deck.  I said, "Gah!!!!  No cats; I hate cats.  I hope it leaves soon.  Whatever you do, don't feed it.  Then it will never leave!"
     "But it's a pretty neat cat and looks hungry," he said sadly. 
      A couple of days later, he suddenly needed to make a trip to the supermarket.  He looked suspicious, so once again, I said, "Don't you get cat food.  We'll never get rid of the cat."  Of course he bought cat food and milk and put it on the deck.
     A week later on a very rainy Friday afternoon, I came home from work.  I went back to the office to find Hubby.  Well, who was sitting on his lap at the computer?  That cat - all nice, warm, and dry.  At that point, I threw my hands into the air and gave up.  We had a cat!   We named him Franz and he was the best cat ever.  He was a Snowshoe - very Siamese looking with white paws.  His ears were very, very short, but we didn't know why.  Turns out most of the neighborhood knew him. 
      We took him to the vet, who lived 2 houses down from us.  She said, "Oh, yes.  This poor baby was left when the neighbors on the corner moved and deserted him.  Their teenage boys put firecrackers behind his ears one time and that's why they're short. The firecrackers burned the ends off."  Horrific - now i really fell in love with this little guy. 
     We installed a cat door in the garage at first, to let him venture in and out.  After we'd had him about a month, I came down with a terrible case of the flu.  As I was lying in the bed, half asleep with a high fever, I awoke to find Franz standing on my stomach with a note attached to his collar.  I thought I was hallucinating from the fever. 
     I pulled the note off and read it:  "Dear neighbors.  We saw his collar and want to thank whoever has him now.  We've been feeding him for months since his owners left him.  We named him Boots."
     Franz didn't seem to want to leave the house anymore, so we deemed him an indoor kitty and sealed up the cat door.  Instead of going out, Franz loved to sit on the sill of our front window and look out at the sidewalk and the park across the street. The cat ownership was real!
     Franz's first Halloween with us was eventful.  Two adorable little girls came giggling up to our door, yelling "Trick or Treat!"
     When I opened the door, they said, "You have White Socks."  Huh?  I asked them what they meant.
    "We see White Socks, the cat, sitting in your window every day.  We used to see him around the neighborhood and pet him.  We call him White Socks."
     At first, I was terrified that they wanted him.  I could NOT give up this cat.  Turns out they'd just loved to pet him as he roamed the neighborhood.  Whew!  Turns out Franz has many personas!
     After all his mistreatment by others, Franz was a people-lover.  When we had parties, he begged to be picked up so much that he would actually be sore the next day!  What a lover-boy.  He lived a long and happy life with us.
     Our pets are all blessings - they've taught me to be a better person, to love unconditionally, and to be forgiving.