When our children were 4,6, and 8 they were able to witness our cat having kittens. They were rather amazed that the mama cat knew what to do and they were intrigued by the kittens.

The mama cat had four kittens. Two were white and grey, one was grey and one was an orange marmalade color. As the kittens grew the children became attached to them and naturally wanted to keep all of them.

Each of the children picked their favorite kitten and promptly named them. Boy Wonder was especially fond of the orange marmalade kitten and named him "G.I. Joe" after his favorite cartoon program.

When the kittens were big enough to be weaned we put out "Free Kittens to Good Homes" posters in our neighborhood. It wasn't long till people were coming to look at the kittens and one by one they started going to their new home. All except one....

You got it, the orange marmalade kitten. It seems that every time some one came to look at the kittens G.I. Joe could never be found.

We soon discovered that every time some one came to look at the kittens our son would hide "G.I. Joe " in the toy box and close the lid. He would then sit on the lid till the strangers had left with another kitty.

We laughed at Boy's determination to keep his cat and in the end when we moved some weeks later G.I. Joe moved with us. "Joey" was a good cat and lived to be a ripe old age.

Our current cat is also an orange marmalade cat. I named him "JJ" much to the horror of my children.

" Why did you name him that? they demanded.

" It's short for "Joey Junior", I responded.

Their response was a unanimous "Awww...that's so cute!"

Labels: Animals, Cats, Monday memories