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I know I wrote that I wasn’t going to write any blog posts in October (with the notable exception of the official proclamation post), but that was before I remembered that today, nine years ago, Luke and Beau were born.

That nine years has been simultaneously long and incredibly short. Long in that I have plenty of memories as well as photographs documenting their growth, and short from my human perspective.

I almost didn’t get those two. They were born in 2015, the year I lost both Max the yellow Lab and my little Lucy. I lost them both on the same day at the vets; Luke to old age (he was 15 1/2) and Lucy to feline leukemia. I tried to save Lucy but her cancer wouldn’t respond to treatments. I knew she was in pain, but she was still fighting, and I wanted to give her every opportunity to beat her cancer. She was fighting still when they gave her the shot that put her to sleep. Losing one beloved pet is bad enough, but two on the same day in the same way was a horrific moment I’ll never forget.

I consider Lucy my first real cat. When she came through my front door that hot summer in 2008, I never realized a creature as small as Lucy would have such a profound impact. I already thought of myself as a Lab Person. Through Lucy’s love and attention to me I came to realize I was, deep down, also a Cat Person.

When Momma Sunshine had her litter of five the following October, that litter included Luke and Beau. Their three female littermates were all Torties. The females were quickly spoken for. The ginger boys, however, were languishing as it were. I offered to adopt one of them, hoping to take some pressure off my daughter and son-in-law’s attempt to get them all adopted. But still no-one came forward for even one of the ginger males. So in a fit of insanity charity I offered to adopt both of them.

Normally you wait eight weeks from birth before bringing kittens into the household. But I had to travel to Japan that December for business, so that by the time I came home and took care of some other tasks and travel, it was January (a good twelve weeks) before I could “take delivery” of the two boys. The “late delivery” didn’t have any negative effects whatsoever on their little psychies. They quickly settled in and took over the place.

I had originally decided on some decidedly awkward names based on Disc World characters, but I quickly discovered they didn’t fit either boy. One day while watching them chase each other, they both went running up a little cat box and then leapt into the air. I immediately thought of the Dukes of Hazzard TV show with its orange Dodge Charger and that’s when they got their names. I’ve since decided to simply call them Luke and Beau and I’ve dropped the backstory.

The boys have decidedly mellowed in their “old age.” I certainly hope they’ll be around for another nine years. Assuming I live that long I’ll be 80.