I LOVE that this thread has veered off onto animals!!! I think it's absolutely perfect!

I grew to love cats because my brother kept bringing them home. (What I didn't find out until much much later is that he also tortured them, which is why they quickly disappeared...and I know I know, it's a sure sign of the beginnings of a serial killer, but instead, he became a folk singer, and that straightened him right out). The cats were always black and the first was named Javert (after the obsessed policeman in Les Miserables) and the second was named Miro (after the Spanish Painter). They were both as neurotic as he was, but between the cats and my brother, it was always easier to understand and forgive them.

When next I had cats, it was in Greece, where the idea of having a pet cat is just considered ridiculous, bordering on abhorrent. Cats are for torturing, kicking, throwing food at from outside restaurants, etc,...not to have in the home. So I immediatly found and brought home two kittens who were brothers, named them Mr Vouros and Mr Zisis, after two characters in my "Learn Greek in Six Months" book, and watched my "wasband" screw his face up in all kinds of interesting contortions. Then, within 10 minutes, I SWEAR, I watched that man become MUSH. He fell completely in love with those critters, and we went on throughout the years, to accumulate about 15 more.

They lived around the guesthouse we ran, though not inside anywhere but our side of the house. Most established their territories around the peripherie,having meals with us, and knowing that if they became ill, they could always crawl back home and be administered to.

Why did we have so many? Not our idea entirely...but a very pregnant Mama cat showed up on our doorstep one day and made the place her own. Who were we to argue, especially when the first six that popped out bore striking resemblances to our Messrs V and Z? (By the way, the idea of getting a cat Fixed was utterly hilareous to the Greeks. They would miss the opportunity to drown the buggers. There were no vets on our island until a bunch of us foreigners actually paid to have a Brit come over and help us out in exchange for food and lodging.)

So we became an extended cat family...and even managed to add a black labrador to the mix when he found him being tortured by yet another fun loving Greek.

Do I have a point to any of this? Not really, except that sometimes animals find you. Like some people, animals can often figure out who is safe, who isn't going to purposely hurt them, Who will feed them, and help them, and when they do, their loyalty is pretty encompassing.

After I left Greece I no longer was in a position to have animals of my own, and became everyone's favorite pet sitter. They knew with me, they'd get a loyal loving friend, which I've always tried to be to my human pals as well...Truth as I see it these days, spreading love to the furry is not a lot different, and often the payoff is even greater....!..xx..e