As my mother grew older, and unable to care for herself, she resisted moving to a assisted living facility.. with the tenacity that could only be rivaled by trying to get an alligator to move from it's swamp (not that her condo was a swamp..). But when she learned she could have a cat at the assisted living facility where she could not have one at her condo, she signed the same day.

One week later, Sammie came into her life. Unhappily Mom didn't have much time with Sammie, I do know that Sammie provided Mom with much comfort during their short acquaintance, purring and talking about the secrets of the universe. I'd promised Mom that Sammie would always have a home if anything happened and Mom couldn't care for her anymore.

And so one day Sammie and I found ourselves in the cab of a rental truck, driving from the state of Washington to Nebraska. Sammie perched on the top of her carrier and contentedly watching as the world rolled by.. and at the startled faces of other truckers looking back at her.

Since she's been here with us she's continued her lectures, squeaking and jabbering when she catches our attention. Sadly, cat speak hasn't been translated yet and the secrets of the universe remain with her (the other cats could care less, after all the universe revolves around them). Hopefully, she's also saying how happy she is... or perhaps she's just asking for more food, it's always hard to tell!