Who would imagine my first Happy Tail occurred in 1970 at the age of 4!  I rescued my first cat, a one eyed calico female who appeared one day in our backyard. We didn’t have many strays in our neighborhood, so this sweet girl stood out.  I was not much taller than her at the time, and I remember struggling to carry her into our house to get her some food.  I informed my mother I had found a cat; we already had two.  The cat was clearly lost and didn’t leave, 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. My mother put up a flyer on the local community bulletin board, 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 her as my mom was never fond of collars. 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 when she brought her to the vet who lived around the corner from us. Sadly for me, a family came quickly and picked her up. They were so 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 many more Happy Tails in my future!