Maxwell Kitty Cat

This has been a tough day. Max was definitely part of our family and will be missed so much. He was 6 weeks old when I got him on Jan. 2 1990 (he was born in Nov. '89). I had decided that I really wanted a kitty and had thought that I would get a little older cat, but when I called around to pet stores, little baby kittens were all they had. Back then I was young and naive and thought you could only get pets from pet stores (instead of animal shelters). Anyway back in 1990, my sister Karen, my nephew Eric and I headed out to a local pet store and looked at all the sweet kitties. There was one that was kicking all the other little kitty's butts! He was pouncing on all the other little kittens and playing pretty rough. He was orange and reminded me of Garfield. Karen thought it would be fun to pick this little bully. Sure, I was game and agreed...this would be my new cat. He was so little and so cute. We were trying to think of names and we passed a new TJ MAXX store. It had just opened and I had never even been inside to see what they even sold. My nephew saw the Maxx part and said, how about calling him "Max". Perfect! What a cool name for a cool cat! So, Max it was. When we got home, my mom (still expecting to see a little older cat) saw this tiny orange fluff ball and the first thing she said was (I remember it exactly) "he's entirely too small...he's gonna get stepped on". He was really small. When he slept, he was so little he could sleep in my hand. Oh, he was really cute. He grew into a cat that liked to go outside (yes, that was irresponsible of me, I know now) and roam around all night! He'd come to my sister's window (never mine) and meow all hours of the night until she got up, went to the front door to let him in the house. Then he'd come to my bed and join me in a nice peaceful sleep. Since he roamed outside, he got dirty fast...so I would give him a bath and then he would, EVERY SINGLE TIME, go and roll in the dirt around the big tree in my mom's backyard. When I moved out on my own, he moved with me (he never went outside to roam ever again). He always adjusted well to changes, has always been pretty laid back and just kinda goes with the flow. When I married Mark, I thought he might have issues with another person being around, but he loved Mark from the beginning and Mark loved him. Max was his first cat. When Shayla came along, once again, Max adjusted. He loved her and she loved him. She was always petting and loving on the cats. About 2 weeks ago, we even had a debate at our house...Mark said Shayla was his buddy, but Shayla said, with the utmost confidence, "no Daddy, I Max's buddy". So, on this day, we're all sad. Max will be missed, but Max is loved, was ALWAYS loved and will be thought of often.