James the Cat

Although there are five members of this family, we often think of it as six. We have a big, fat, orange cat that is our sixth member. He is a lazy, old, cat, that constantly hacks up hair balls, leaves his fur anywhere he lays (which is EVERYWHERE), and occasionally scratches on the furniture. Despite that, he receives more love than a cat should really get! He purrs continuously and will become your best friend if you just pet him once. He is laid back and puts up with all the chaos and craziness that is often in this house. We often find him snuggled up to his boy in bed at night or sleeping with the girls (if he can get through the mess) in their room. He's withstood all three of our kids' toddler years, moving from house to house, flying in an airplane to AK, going from being an outdoor cat to an indoor cat (course, that was a pretty easy adjustment for him, I think) and dealing with other previous pets. He's quite the cat.

People ask to see him, because they don't believe his size, and immediately they are in shock as to how big he really is. But, then he jumps up on their lap and starts purring and they are hooked, loving the cat right back.What's amazing to watch is the love my children have for him. They all adore him, and he loves them right back. We never have to ask more than once for someone to feed him or give him water, they are all anxious to take care of him. My son can't hardly fall asleep without the cat in his bed at night. The girls love on him(sometimes a little too much), dress him up, sing to him and play with him regularly. I recently found my youngest daughter snuggled up to him. She was using him for a pillow. He didn't mind one bit. In fact, I think he loved it! He leaned in to her and just purred away. So sweet.

Now, I am not a cat person. Never have been. I'm more of a dog person. However, I do believe James has softened me to cats and how loving they really are. Although, I don't love cats, I do love James. I often don't admit it,(otherwise I might get stuck changing the litter box) but, he really is a part of our family. Amazing how pets can do that.

So we will continue to vacuum the shed fur, buy large amounts of cat food (did I mention, he's a big cat?), put up with meowing in the middle of the night, and love on him and care for him. After all, he's family, and that's what family is for.