My First Childhood Pet

My first childhood pet was a cat named Socks. Our family was in Oklahoma City where my father was studying at the FAA Academy learning how to install and repair aircraft navigation equipment. Our home was in Tennessee, but my father had to spend, sometimes months, studying at the Academy. We always went as a family. I spent part of the 3rd, 5th, and 7th grades

 going to school in Oklahoma.

During one of those times we lived in an apartment complex, and someone there had a female cat with kittens and the kittens were sitting in a box and they were giving them to anyone who wanted one. I grabbed one of the kittens and rushed home with it. My mother was not a "pet person," but when I knocked on the back screen door and held my treasure up with my hands under the kitten's front legs and said "Mom, can I keep him? Please?" she just couldn't say no. We named him Socks because he was dark gray with four white paws.

Socks was part of my life until I graduated from college and was married. He lived until he was almost 20 years old. Finally his arthritis and aging body was just too painful, and my parents had the vet help him on his next journey.

What followed from that day when I picked from a litter of kittens was a lifetime of pets. Since then, I have never been without a pet to care for and love. I have had cats, dogs, rats, mice, gerbils, Gunea pigs, frogs, fish, possums, horses and even insects. One of my favorite college roommate stories was when I found a praying mantis cocoon, and I put it in a small aquarium in our dorm room. One day my panicked roomy came looking for me on campus because out of the cocoon hatched HUNDREDS of tiny little praying mantis. They were everywhere! She was horrified! "Out!" she said. Well, thank goodness it was spring.

I have 72 years of pet stories to tell, and you will find many of them embedded in my art. I have many wonderful memories, and so many experiences, and I offer them to you through my shop: PawTee.shop. I believe any avid pet lover will recognize it immediately.

Please join me on my journey.