The Truck is Booked...and other stuff

We did get the condo, though we are waiting for the lease to arrive. That means it was time to book the moving truck, so I took care of that this week. We found out we could only have 2 cats though only one is preferred. We have decided to bring Snickers with us and find a new home for Precious and Tigger. It was a very hard decision but I think it is the right one for them. Precious and Tigger have been together for 8 years and enjoy being together, so we can not separate them. They are also still very afraid of the kids, always running the opposite driection when the kids come near them. On the other hand, Snickers never really bonded with the other 2 cats. We've only had her about 6 years. She loves the kids and cuddles with them every chance she gets.

Precious was our first baby. She joined our little family when we lived in Kalamazoo 9 years ago. She was Jon's first ever cat. Due to family allergies he could never have a cat growing up, though he always wanted one. I can still remember the day I picked her up from her foster home. Back then her name was Light Bright. She was looked at by many people but they always chose one of her siblings. When I saw her I couldn't understand why no one wanted her, she was so cute and sweet. We put her in a box and I took her home with me that day. Of course a box wasn't good enough for her, she climbed out while I was driving home, on the freeway!
Precious was quite the character. She was my alarm clock that first year in college, never letting me oversleep. She once dragged an entire unopened back of cat food around the living room, tearing open the package and getting food everywhere. One day we came home from school and couldn't find her, she opened one of the kitchen cabinets and was laying in there for probably hours. She would suck her own nipple and would only stop when we gave her milk. She is my pretty kitty and I am going to miss her terribly.

We got Tigger about a year later. We had moved back to the Detroit area and thought that Precious needed a playmate. We went to the local Humane Society and started looking at cats. We saw several cats and kittens. One a beautiful but older siameese cat, the other a orange tiger strip kitten. We were trying to decide which one we wanted and went to see the orange cat again. We went to his cage but he was gone. The Humane Society was busy that day so we thought we were too late. That was when we noticed they had moved the kitten (named Larry) and his brothers (Curly and Mo of course) to another cage and when he saw us he started climbing up the cage to us. We knew then he was the cat for us. Being orange Tigger was a natural, if not orginal, name. Tigger is a BIG cat. He loves to cuddle on our laps which is very awkward because he is so large. Tigger will wake us up in the middle of hte night if he needs food. He loves to be brushed. Just recently, after almost 8 years, I discovered how to get him to give kisses. You have to scratch his back just in the right place. It is going to be hard to not have him climbing all over me when I am watching TV.

We have a family member that may take them for us, which would be the most ideal scenerio. I've been trying to get in contact with her but haven't had any luck and I am running out of time. Ideally she would take them until we buy a house and could have them back (we'd pay to ship them out) but until I talk with her I have no idea. After a year away they may be attached to their new home and she may be attached to them. At least if they are with family we can get updates and pictures. If I can't get in contact with her or if she is no longer willing to take them I don't know what I am going to do.

In other news we had more good-byes today. Jon has a side job as the UDM pep-band director and so the bad members got together today to have a farewell dinner. This year our whole family has really gotten to know the kids. We went to just about every home basketball game where Nathan would play the base drum and Emily would e the cheerleader and we even traveled with the team for tournament play. Nathan even got to know some of the men's basketball players and they would always ive him high 5s and talk to him. I had visions of the kids growing up attending games and maybe one day even playing, but that no longer will be happening.
We have planned our route to Phoenix and have scheduled stops in St Louis, Oklahoma City, and Albuquerque. We have friends here in MI who are moving to Albuquerque just a few days before we move to Phoenix, so we will stay with them when we get to that area. I also know someone who has a son in Oklahoma City who has very generously offered to let us stay with them for that night, and they have contacts in St Louis and are seeing if anyone they know there can help us out for a night there. We are so blessed to have places to stay rather than having to get a hotel for 3 nights.

We leave in 12 days and still have so much to do. Our house price has been reduced again. And on top of it all there is a small chance Jon could be called back to his current district by the end of this week. While I would love to have him get called back so we can stay I really hope we don't even have to face making that decision since next year we'd be in the same position again and not have a job offer elsewhere.

I think that is all for now.