Mr. Hawthorne

Last year as I began to move down to Champaign, I thought I was going to have a roommate by a certain name.  Things came about that changed that plan and I found myself in an apartment I would never have chosen to live in alone.  After a few weeks, I got tired of being alone and glanced at my finances only enough to see that I could (barely) afford to adopt a kitten.  I began trolling the Humane Society website and, logically, told myself I couldn't adopt anyone until I'd met them.

I called three friends and my mother to get them to talk me out of going to hold kittens alone.  None of them picked up.

I saw some adorable ginger kittens, but the brothers were to be adopted as a pair and I wasn't quite prepared for that.  So I stuck my finger into cages, tapped little damp noses, and saw this owly face peering at me from his own cage in the corner.  I asked to take him out and hang out with him in the "Meet and Greet" room.

The day I met him and all my friends failed to keep me from the Humane Society.

As soon as the door closed, he looked up at me and climbed onto my shoulder and perched there.  He was about 3lbs and soft as can be.  I snapped a picture on my phone and asked some friends if I should get him.

He's always been a snugglebug.

I did get him to come down to see if he wanted to play with some of the toys in the room, but he preferred my lap.  I was hooked.

This lap is MY lap.

I brought him home a week later and he was still as snuggly as he was at the shelter.

Cat Model, if I do say so myself.

Definitely got into the spirit of Halloween.

Little baby likes to play with his feet.

A fellow book lover.  Adorable, until he tries to eat them.

He has since gotten much bigger, but there are many stories to chronicle his growth.  And, of course, many more photos.