And now for Max, as promised, how he came into our lives.

This is Maximillion, our kitty with the name longer than he is!  We call him Max, it suits him well.

Max was purchased from a pet store but before I go there, I need to tell you about Rusty, our kitten we had before Max.  Rusty was the best cat of all, he acted just like a dog!  Honestly, he did.

Rusty was an outside cat that came to us via our third child, Lisa, on our Anniversary.  Apparently neighbors around the corner had a cat that had a litter of kittens and they needed to get rid or ummm... find a home for them.  Lisa loved animals and little animals especially.  She knew about the kittens weeks before they were ready to be let go.  She'd go up and play with them.  She even asked us if we could have a kitten.  Of course the answer was, "No! Who's going to care for the kitten?  Feed it, clean up after it, etc.?" " Oh I will, I promise, I will." says Lisa in her most earnest child voice.  She even sounded CONVINCING!  Anyway, the answer remained No.

So along comes our Anniversary and what in the world do you think Lisa want's to get for our present?  You guessed it, a kitten.  So small, so furry, so playful, so cuddly, soooo cute.... and what does this child do?  Well with the skills of the best salesperson, she bring the kitten of her choosing up to our house and says, "Happy Anniversary Mommy! Don't you just love my present for you and Daddy?"  Now who can resist seeing a little red furry ball of kitten that's meowing and wanting to be picked up?  Ahhhh, Lisa, you kill me!  "Let's go show Daddy and see what he says."  Of course, knowing my hubby, anything I want is okay. 

Kids, what are you going to do with them?  Persistent pests, rug rats, conniving kids... ;)

Needless to say, we took Rusty in and he was the best.  You'd call him like a dog and he'd meow and come running.  All the neighbors knew him because he was so friendly.  He'd even stop perfect strangers  in their tracks as he'd walk back and forth across the sidewalk in front of them until they stopped and then he'd lay down, belly up, meowing for them to scratch his belly... just like a DOG!  Certainly a dog lived inside this cat's head.  Rusty even ended up 25 miles away in a vet's office over one weekend.

How the heck did that happen?  Seems someone heard him meowing and opened their door.  He went in and made himself at home.  When dinner time came, they tried to get him to leave but he wouldn't.  So they let him stay overnight and in the morning let him out only to find him hanging around.  So they called the only open vet office they could find, next county over, and took him there since Rusty had his county license  tags on him. Everyone in the neighborhood new Rusty because he was just do doggone friendly!

Oh well, we got Rusty in May.  Fastforward to the morning of December 23.  I was getting the kids ready for their last day of school before the Christmas holiday break.  The phone rang and it was our neighbor across the street.  Her nanny had just arrived and was concerned about a cat that she saw laying in the curb at the corner.  She thought it looked like Rusty and knew the kids would be heading for school soon and didn't want them to see it if it were him. (See what I mean EVERYONE knew this cat?)

Hubby went down to the corner to see and oh so sadly, found it to be our beloved Rusty.  His head smashed from being run over by a car.    I watched from the house and when I saw him lifting up the cat and starting to walk home, I yelled, "Is it him?" and all he could do was shake his head.  I quickly ran upstairs and got a blanket and ran to him saying, "Quick, let's get him to the vet."  But hubby insisted it was too late, he was gone.  I asked to see him and hubby refused saying it was horrific.

Here we were, two days before Christmas and our beloved dog/cat Rusty was gone.  In his short life he had brought  us such adventure and fun.  The entire gang of six were crying our bloody eyes out!  Christmas was going to be so horrible this year.  Our hearts were broken.

We wrapped Rusty in a blanket and placed him inside a plastic bag.  We let the kids say goodbye to him and I quickly got them on their way to school, letting their teachers know of our morning happenings.  They could not have been nicer to the kids.

When I got back home, hubby and I dug and buried our beloved Rusty in the yard.  Then I went to work.  When I got there many animal lovers knew exactly how I felt and how deep the loss was.  My boss said, "I know what you need to do.  You need to get another cat right away."  I said, "Oh no, we couldn't do that." but she insisted, "It's the best medicine for you and the family, trust me, I know."

Never having even thought to replace Rusty, I was thinking that would dishonor his memory or something to that affect, I called hubby and told him what my boss suggested.  He agreed to begin an earnest search for a kitten, but it was the DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS EVE!  After calling every pet store in the area, he found ONE pet store that had kittens.

Christmas Eve morning, in the sleeting rain, hubby and the two youngest went in search of a new kitten.  Lisa wanted a 'White' kitten this time.  As they waited in a small line outside the store for it to open, Lisa kept saying she wanted a 'White' kitten..... and hoped there was a 'White' kitten inside when the doors opened.

Lo and behold, there was a 'White' kitten.  The smallest of the bunch and it was all backed up into the far corner of the cage.  Not the most friendliest one, that mattered not.... she wanted the 'White' kitten.  So the 'White' kitten was purchased and brought into our crazy home.  There were smiles in between tears but there were smiles once again on my children's faces.

Max filled a void left by Rusty's sad passing.  Max brought smiles to faces that were filled with tears.  Max rescued us.

And on a side note, my boss was right afterall, getting another kitten was the best medicine.  We were able to enjoy our Christmas holiday, excited for Santa and the new kitten and whenever we thought of Rusty and became sad, we picked up Max and delighted in our new pet.

And that is how Max came into our lives 15 years ago.  Reggie followed  January of the next year being a year younger than Max.  Reg quickly got bigger than Max and they fought like 'Cats and Dogs' but they loved each other too.  We know Max will leave us someday, I just hope we have enough time in between.

Maxie, I love you little kitten, even if you act like a typical cat...you're white belly is cute and Lisa brought another winner into our home.

~THE END~