The Saga of Charlie

Yes, I'm obsessed with cats.

No, I would not have a problem with becoming a crazy-cat-lady.

In fact, I think that crazy-cat-lady-hood is definitely in my future.

And I'm excited about it.

Now to the point of this post:

The gentleman with the white nose, above, goes by Charley.

The sleepy fellow is Barney.

These two felines live with my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Mark.

Sadly, Aunt Debbie and Uncle Mark lost their sweet Lulu to a car accident a few months ago.

They then had no rascal to meow at them and chase the strings they dragged behind them.

So down to the shelter they went and adopted Barney.

Shortly after Barney moved in, Uncle Mark was out in the backyard and saw Barney running around.

He quickly scooped him up and ran inside.

You see, Barney is supposed to be an indoor cat.

When he got inside, he saw my Aunt Debbie sitting on the sofa snuggling with Barney.

Confused, he held up the cat in his arms and said "Okay?  Who the heck is this?"

Well, my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Mark did everything the could to find the owners of this new friend, who was quickly dubbed "Charlie" (you have to say it with a Boston accent...kinda like, "Chawlie.")

They put up signs all around the neighborhood.  The took him to the vet to see if he had an ID chip.  Nothin'.

So Charlie quickly became part of the family.

Then, tragedy: a different vet found a chip and returned him to his original family with no goodbyes allowed.

Yes, a happy ending is coming.

The original family decided after one day that they no longer wanted Charlie (they'd already gotten another cat.)

So Charlie returned home.  To Barney and to my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Mark.

I'm sure all you anti-cat people think that was the worst story ever, but you cat-lovers out there, I know you have happy hearts right now.

P.S.  Yes, as you can see from the caption on the picture, my parents did bring Charlie a "welcome home" cake.  And he loved it.