Who could have imagined my first Happy Tail occurred in 1970 at the age of 4!  I rescued my first cat, a friendly, one-eyed calico female who appeared in our yard. We didn’t have many strays, so this sweet girl stood out.  I was not much taller than the cat at the time, and I remember struggling to carry her into our house.  I informed my mother, I had found a cat, and we were keeping her; we already had two.  The cat was clearly lost. She didn’t leave our home, and I stayed glued to her.  I snuck her into my room at night as I didn’t want her to disappear. I wanted desperately to keep her, but my mom explained her family was likely looking for her, and we needed to try and find them. We put up flyers, but we never received a call. One day. my mother removed the cat's collar in what I thought was the final step toward us keeping. But to my disappointment, on the underside of the collar was written a telephone number. The dread I felt as my mother called the number from the white rotary telephone that hung on our kitchen wall. A woman picked up the phone and was thrilled to learn we had found her cat. Apparently, she was lost from the vet’s office around the corner from us. Sadly for me, her family came quickly and picked her up. They were very grateful we had taken care of their baby. I on the other hand was beyond disappointed she was leaving! But looking back, I realize now it was my first Happy Tail which started me on a path to creating many more Happy Tails in my future!

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Sophia