At one point in the evening, this largish cat ran down the length of the hall and leapt up onto the bed, right onto my chest, staring at me intently. It was quite clear who the boss of the house was.

I'd call you crazy, but the results speak for themselves.

The cats sleep by me for the most part. They like me better than Lucy because she can't stop picking them up.

So we adopted one from the Humane Society and she became my buddy, always laying on me whenever I watched TV or played games. Unfortunately she had either FIP or FIV and had to be put down after a year. Man, that really sucked and it really got to me.

After 9 months or so, we adopted another cat. This time we got a 2 year old and have had her for about the past year and a half. She's a real character--spends time with my wife during the day and evening, but at night she sleeps on me and then follows me around all morning. It's taken her a long time to open up to us, but at least she's gotten there.

Then there's our youngest, another kitten from the Humane Society, who is currently residing with my in-laws after a nasty fight (likely caused by redirected aggression) between her and the oldest. Not sure if we're just going to allow my in-laws to keep her or if we're going to give cat co-habitation another go. Having both of them around was a riot, so we're hoping they'll find a way to coexist again.

As you can tell, my wife turned me into a cat fan pretty quickly!

she lasted all the way through two moves across country, grad school and the birth of my first child before suffering a mental breakdown soon thereafter. It broke my heart to have to take her to the vet to be put down.

almost 10 years later, we acquired a new cat, handed down through my wife's family. A boy this time. Incredibly affectionate, incredibly spoiled. Only drinks from the bathroom faucet (my side, of course). But, thankfully, I've trained him to only bug my wife at oh-dark-hundred when he demands to be watered, then walked down to his food bowl.