As you can tell, Peanut is no longer the wee little kitten I brought home from the Williamson County Animal Shelter on June 30, 2017. She’s grown a bit.

She’s completely at home now. She’s even learning to cuddle and be a lap cat, slowly but surely. She loves her some belly rubs, especially first thing in the morning.

I still have to remind myself that she’s not Lucy. She won’t replace Lucy, and there will still always be a little ache in my heart for my first cat who lived to the ripe old age of 17.

Still, I don’t regret for one moment picking Peanut. Or more truthfully, her picking me. I will always carry that memory of her reaching her tiny paw through the bars of her cage toward me, meowing pitifully. There was no way I wasn’t taking that little tortie runt home.

Here’s to hopefully at least 17 years more of Peanut making me laugh and bring a snuggly, cuddly little fur-ball who has completely stolen my heart.