Caleb

I have grown up around animals most of my life. My parents rented a cottage style house that was on a working farm, where we lived for my first four years. After moving a few states away for better teaching positions, we got a house in Oxford, Mississippi. We always had at least two cats in the house, from the time I was five, until after I left for college. There were too many to name here, but I have always loved cats and find them to be a very soothing and grounding presence. When I was around eleven years old or so, one of my older sisters, Rebecca, and I used to volunteer to walk our neighbor's dog for the afternoon. Around when I was thirteen, my dad found an abandoned puppy one day, while he was walking in the woods. We adopted him, and he grew up to be our family dog, one of the sweetest souls I have ever encountered. Losing him was one of the hardest days of my life, but Grizz Lee lived long and happily, and he brought us all closer together as a family. 

In contrast, one of the luckiest days of my life happened eight years ago, by chance, when I found a young kitten sunning himself in the yard outside my apartment. His name is Tybalt, the most dapper and handsome tuxedo cat that ever strutted on four paws, and he is my roommate and best friend. He drove cross-country with me when I moved back here to Portland, in early 2019. Tybbs is the first animal whose welfare I have been solely responsible for, and it has given me an additional level of domestic responsibility that has helped me grow. I try to do my best for his well-being, including brushing him nearly every day, trimming his claws, and brushing his teeth. He is not allowed outside on his own, although he is harness trained. We go for excursions around our apartment property with him on-leash, and out for bigger jaunts with the help of his adventure cat backpack, which gives him a safe space to retreat to if the environment is crowded or noisy, and allows me to tuck him away if we need to cover ground more quickly than the pace of an ambling house-cat. Everyone tells me he is spoiled, which is, I think, how it should be.