How we Adopted our Spooky Black Cat
Spooky
Living in an apartment gives you a sense of community and responsibility but for me it gave much more. As a wife to a loving husband and a mother of a 10 and 12 year old, my hands were quite busy all the time: waking up the kids, packing their lunch, taking them to school, making breakfast for my husband, packing his lunch for work, washing the dishes, cleaning up, etc. Nothing ever happened out of the ordinary in my life, everything had to be organized and set for the day. So, you could guess how utterly surprised I was to see a tiny spookiest black cat on our front doormat after picking the kids up one day.
Every parent has to go through the question “Can I keep her/him?” but for me it came much sooner than I expected. The apartment did not allow any pets so I had no idea where this cute, female cat came from but it seemed like it was meant to happen. I would not let the cat come inside our apartment in fear of running into the manager who lived right next door. Therefore my kids (especially the younger one) would play with the cat, pick her up and cuddle her, pet her and would spend every second of every day outside if I didn’t call them inside for dinner. I decided to buy the cat some food since she seemed starving for attention but that was a BIG mistake as she kept coming back for more. I remember the cat would always meow in the middle of the night with LOUD and eerie shrills which gave her the name Spooky (her pitch black fur might have contributed too). A few weeks had gone by and she seemed like a daily routine that had been added into our lives. I wasn’t too keen on keeping Spooky but I knew one day it would come down to the inevitable question so I decided to tell my daughters that we can take her along whenever we moved out of the apartment.
One month later we were passing by a street and we saw a construction of new houses near a nice neighborhood. Just out of curiosity we went inside the sales office to see the model home (which we all secretly wish we can live in). At that time, there was no intention of buying a house in the near future or any discussion between my husband and me whatsoever, but we came out putting our name on the registration form, with a brochure and an agent’s phone number in hand. Those days, the house prices were off the roof and everyone was rushing to buy one. We were not thinking that we would even qualify for the loan or our name would be picked on the first phase. However on the very next day we had qualified for the loan and our name was picked up on the first phase. Everything happened so fast, I felt like I was drifting through a very good dream.
Well, after 3 months, we had moved in to our brand new dream house. I was secretly hoping that someone would come forward and claim Spooky but to my dismay we had to bring her along. I also felt responsible for her now because I was worried that if we did not take her, she would have starved or that my daughters would hate me for life. After all, that’s what parents should do to set a good example: to keep their promises. I would never forget the happiness and joy I saw on their faces on the morning of moving day.
I wish the story ended there like any other happy animal story but wait there is more. Now we had moved in to our brand new house and had not even settled properly yet when spooky started acting really weird. She was not eating anymore and took extra precautions everywhere she walked. We thought it was just the transitions from an outside tabby to an inside duchess so we took her to the Vet. SURPRISE: she’s pregnant and due in two weeks. WHAT. No wonder she was seeking attention. It should have been a no brainer!
If my daughters were happy BEFORE, then you should have seen them now giggling on the edge of their seats. Even though I grew up around farm animals, they never quite appealed to me. So now I was stuck with a situation I had no control over (totally different from my daily routine) and I also had a serious medical condition so I stayed far away from Spooky as possible. However, as a mother of two I knew how pregnancy can take a toll on an individual so I did manage to provide a comfortable, hidden place with a big crate, some clothes, extra food and water.
I had to go the doctor office one day because I was not feeling good. Unfortunately, she chose the day I was not at home and gave birth to five beautiful baby 
From that day on my house was never the same. After 3 months of wild kittens running around the house, we found loving homes for all of them and kept one for ourselves (named Mooky). Moral of the story is: Never make promises you can’t keep. And if you keep them, enjoy the ride because life is too short of fulfilling promises.
