The American Family...

In these United States, we have a unique idea of family.

When my wife and I were first married, we had our first child within three weeks of our wedding. No, it wasn't a shotgun wedding, and the "child" was actually a cat. He was a black and white bi-color who chewed through phone cables and bit my toes through the blankets.


Within a week, he had a sister, and they were our kids. We lived in a small apartment in Columbia, PA, at the time, but soon moved to a single-wide trailer in Leola, PA. Madeline and Willie Nillie (those are their names), settled in with us, and within a year of our move, my wife suspected she might be pregnant with our first human child. Unfortunately, that was not to be. We lost the child, but soon gained another cat.


Frankie joined our family in 2003, and Annie came into our lives in July of 2004. Each of these cats were adopted soon after the death of a beloved relative. Frankie was a stray we found under our oil tank, and Annie came from the Humane League.


At this point we were up to four cats, but we didn't care, they were a nice addition to our family and it was comforting to come home to a cat purring on the arm of the couch, just waiting to be scratched under the chin. and at least one other rubbing on our ankles.


In September of 2004, our lives changed dramatically when we took a foster child into our home. Luis was adopted in 2006, and we are very proud of him. But with the adoption of one child, we soon had another in our family.


In August of 2007, Luis came home with a little ball of fur in his hands. A pair of kittens of no more than two weeks old had been abandoned on a neighbor's farm, and we inherited the calico. After two sleepless nights, she finally took to bottle-feeding. Her "mother" was a heat pack wrapped in a tea towel. Lizzie soon grew to be as playful as any kitten will be, and was welcomed as our fifth cat.


Then, insanity truly set in. We went to the Humane League, "just to look" and came home with our sixth cat last winter. Jo-Jo made himself at home and regularly sleeps on our bed with us at night.

For those of us who have them, pets are an integral part of our homes and families. We share our lives with them and they return our affection (at least the warm blooded ones do). Certainly, they are not the same as the human members of our families, but they are family just the same.

I watched "Marley and Me" with my son tonight and this seemed to be the overall theme of the film. Dogs and cats affect us in ways that we cannot easily put into words. Even if we sometimes find their behaviors annoying, they are a part of our lives and we love them.