We got Banyan, and his grey and green-eyed brother Lucious, in April 2002 from my mom in Safford. They were so tiny, barely (if even) weened. We brought them home to Tucson in this small cardboard box. Nippon and I weren't even married yet. They were the best of buddies and we had fun playing with them all over the condo since we didn't have a yard and they only had access to a small enclosed porch. When we moved to Tempe in 2004 the cats, of course came with us. I'm not sure they liked the one bedroom apartment but luckily for them, and us, we only had to wait a couple of months until moving to our first home on Hazelton Lane. There we had a small backyard and they were free to go outside and explore. I was nervous to let them go at first since they had never been outdoors really, but the fear disappeared quickly as I saw how much they loved it outside; climbing trees, catching lizards, and sleeping under bushes. Luckily they were both smart cats and came when called so it was easy to get them home if needed. Then, when I was a few months pregnant with Afton in 2008, Lucious didn't come home. It was the worst feeling ever. He was such a good cat, loved to cuddled up at my feet, and even played fetch! We hung up signs, went door to door, and called all the vets and shelters in our area. We never saw our grey boy again. I like to think he left on an adventure and was out seeing the world. Banyan seemed lonely so I convinced Nippon that we needed another cat. This coupled with pregnancy hormones and missing Lucious made me crazy sad, so we went and adopted a brown tabby that we named Iris. She was a gorgeous color and cute and playful as a kitten, but she was more like the typical cat (I like to think Banyan and Lucious are not run of the mill cats). She didn't come when called, didn't really like cuddling, and mostly kept to herself, sleeping up high away from everyone. This could have been just that she didn't get as much attention as Banyan and Lucious did when they were kittens. Actually I'm sure this is the case. Neither of us had much time with her since we worked all the time and then Afton was born shortly thereafter taking up even more of our time. Banyan played with her a bit but she didn't really like him and he seem to feel the same. When we found out we were moving to San Diego we of course wanted to bring the cats. Unfortunately the apartment complex we were moving to charged an arm and a leg for pets so we decided to just take Banyan and leave Iris with my parents until we moved. We had left our cats with them before when we went on long trips and it would only be (we hoped) 6 months. It seemed like the perfect plan. Iris didn't agree. When she arrived at my parents house she bolted straight from the cage and they never saw her again. Ever. Maybe she and Lucious crossed paths on their adventure. We still have Banyan and he is extremely happy we have move from the small apartment into a house that has a bigger backyard than even our Tempe one. He jumps the fence into the golf course behind the house and catches mice, leaving them at the door. Mice with long grey tails that I have to pick up and put in the trash. I think he's quite proud of himself. He's getting older but he doesn't act like it. I sure love me kit-kat.
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| Banyan |
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| Lucious |
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| Iris |
