First there was Calydalyrymple, AKA Calvin, our great hunter of rodents and crane flies at the Bellingham house.  He charmed us as we were on our way through Petsmart intent on restocking our goldfish pond.  He reached his little white paw out of the kennel and sleepily batted our hands.  We were in need of a cat (as we had seen a rat) and Mr. Blue Eyes seemed like the appropriate choice for taking care of that problem.

Then there was Martha, our first baby.  She slept with us, kept us awake all night with her crying and kept us from thinking too much about those babies we weren’t getting pregnant with.  She must have been the lucky charm though, because we conceived and brought Guinevere home just a year after our Martha came into our life.  Martha was there for everything: baby’s homecoming, baby’s Halloween, baby’s laugh and every other baby thing.  She was, after all, Guinevere’s big sister.

Upon meeting, one year old Calvin puffed up and hissed at his new sister.  A DOG??!!  They were almost exactly the same size, he more svelte than she, but she much more feisty.  She quickly outgrew him, but in the meantime a love blossomed between the dog and the cat.  There the two would be upon our arrival home from wherever we had been, coiled together and mixed up in one sleepy bundle of tails, paws and furry ears.

And still, nearly a decade later, The Claw and The Paw are drawn together like magnets attracting.  In a patch of sun, there they’ll be side by side, grooming, nuzzling and enjoying the companionship of the best of friends.


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