Mulligan Street

It was 2004. Our newly adopted siblings from Vietnam, 5 and 10, wanted a cat they could cuddle, and our older cats were having none of it. So we decided to adopt a kitten, a black one, since we knew they were harder to place. Our newest kids and I went to Lillie's house, where there were a bunch of foster kittens; Len would meet us there. Lillie is with Animal Allies, a wonderful rescue that fosters its cats (we have fostered for them), so they are loved and cared for while

We didn’t intend to do this; we just wanted to meet one. Now we have four—but only for a time. I posted before about losing two elderly cats in the last three years or so, and about my sweet Charlie having cancer. For a cat who was given a couple of weeks, he’s doing remarkably well so far, thanks to a weekly dose of chemo—but he’s on borrowed time. That will leave our 13 year-old, Daisy, alone. She was very closely bonded to Charlie and the two we lost, especially Kelli,

A few months ago, we lost our sweet old red kitty, Kelli, to lymphoma. She was 18. Kelli came to us as a kitten from Animal Allies, a rescue in the Washington, DC, area, not long after we adopted our second child. Kelli quickly became our nanny, tucking our (then two) children into bed at night and helping wake them in the mornings. She was 3 when Daisy and Charlie joined the family as 9-week-old kittens (also from Animal Allies), and the trio, more often than not, spent the