Are You a Cat Person?
If so, this will be the best thing you'll read today
A lot happened here in the past week. My family came to visit (which is a big deal, because everyone lives out of state), my sister graduated with her Master’s degree (go Nang!), and I visited Chicago for the first time in years.
And to add to the excitement, we adopted a cat! Meet Juno, the 18-pound heavyweight champ who is now a resident of Wisconsin:
Juno has actually been in our lives since 2020, when he was just a kitten. My youngest sister (not the one who graduated last weekend) and my mom picked him out from a shelter. Back then, my sister was still living in Michigan at our childhood home, but the plan was for her to take Juno with her to college in upstate NY once she got past the dorm days and was living in an apartment.
But the tricky thing about being a college student is that you don’t always know where you’re going to be in a year, let alone a few months. Last summer, my sister moved to New York City temporarily for a school thing. And while she has an apartment near campus, she’s not sure if she’ll stay there after graduating. So that could mean moving again — possibly several times. Not the ideal situation for a cat.
Last year, we started talking about relocating Juno. My mom, who’s been caring for Juno since the beginning, is also moving, so there was a possibility that she would just take him with her to the new house. But Juno and my mom’s dog don’t get along, which had caused a lot of stress for Juno. And since we still saw Juno as my sister’s cat (and kind of the family’s cat in general), we decided to discuss other possibilities.
One of those options was having Juno come live with us in Wisconsin. Ryan (my partner) and I have been wanting to adopt a cat for a while, and we have plenty of space for a furry friend in our apartment. At first, we were just going to go to the local Humane Society and meet cats — but when we learned that Juno might be able to come live with us, we decided to wait.
Juno is probably the sweetest cat I’ve ever met. He’s calm and loves people, and doesn’t do anything mischievous like steal things or rip up furniture. Whenever I’d go home to visit my mom, Juno would come find me in the guest bedroom and curl up next to me when I was sleeping. He loves to cuddle and will follow you around to see what you’re up to during the day. And despite his size, Juno is surprisingly quiet and agile when climbing up on counters and stuff. In my eyes, he’s the perfect kitty companion.
Honestly, I don’t know if I wanted a cat so much as I just wanted Juno to come live with us. Ryan and I never went to the Humane Society to look at cats in the past year, even though we’d been talking about adopting one constantly.
And thankfully, my mom and sisters agreed that bringing Juno out to Wisconsin was the best option for all of us. So last week on Thursday, the kitty came to his new home, and he’s been loving it here ever since.
I have a lot of thoughts about cat ownership (since this is the first time I’ve ever had a cat), and all the things that come with bringing a new being into your home. Living with Juno so far has been wonderful, but I’ve been spending more time this weekend just enjoying his company, rather than thinking about how to write about the experience.
I’ll flesh out those ideas later. For now, here are some pictures we took of our new feline friend:
We’re just a few days from the summer solstice (June 20), and about $140 away from our spring 2024 fundraising goal! Your support has been tremendous in helping me keep this newsletter going. If you enjoyed this post, consider dropping a donation in my tip jar on Ko-fi!
This newsletter will always be free to read and share, but I rely on the generous donations of readers to build financial security and keep this project going long-term.
Any amount helps get me closer to my goal of $800 ❤️ (Current progress: $660/$800)
Huge shoutout to my 2024 supporters:
Dennis T.
KRW
Grandma Gin Gin
Tara Y.
Murphy Kaye
Maddie B.
Mom
Emma H.
Molly G.
❤️❤️❤️