Cat or Dog?

I just can't do it.  Why should any animal lovin' girl have to make a decision between whether they are a "cat person" or a "dog person."  I cannot do it and I WON'T do it.

As a kid, we always had cats and lots of them. My little sister Bethany was always telling my mom some story about finding a cat abandoned in a paper bag on some obscure trail in the neighborhood and my mother, my soft-hearted mother always fell for it.   My mother and my sister were always bringing more felines into our family.  I loved my kitties.  I cuddled, kissed and dressed them in my baby-doll clothes and swiftly pushed them in a small chintzy carriage.  The baby buggy handled corner turns well on two wheels.  My kitties were my family.

Shh, don't tell anyone. Yes, I loved my cats, but I wanted a dog too.  I later learned my mother secretly wanted a dog as well, but to keep peace in the family she never let on, especially to me.  My father would not hear of having a dog in the house.  "Too much work.  Too much trouble," he said each time I tried my sweetest little whine on him.

"Please, I'll do all the work, PLEASE?!" Famous last words.  My father never fell for it.

Nonetheless, I got to borrow the neighbor's dog and take him on walks, my sister used to share her lollipops with Zook and we would help return all the items that the dog would haul home like the toddler's wading pool that sat in some nearby yard. Zook had a personality.

I vowed early in my life, that when I was able I would have a house with a dog and a cat.  My husband and I love our little family.  Our bed is just big enough for all the kitties and doggies that gather each night.  See, I did not have to choose.  I love my cats and I love my dogs too.