My Sweet Isabelle

I've always been an animal lover. Still, it seemed rather sudden when I decided to adopt one five and a half years ago. It was December 2005 when I really felt that God put it on my heart to adopt a cat. I tried to ignore it because, after all, it just wasn't practical at that time. But I remember when I decided to listen. I was browsing through a dollar store {I used to be obsessed with dollar stores!} when I stopped in my tracks. I hadn't really been paying much attention to the radio but at that moment I stopped and listened. And there it was - my sign. They were playing a commercial about adopting animals. I went home and pulled up petfinder.com and began my search.

That's when I found a sweet orange kitty named Chloe and knew I wanted to adopt her. I had a thing for orange cats {still do, kind of!} I contacted Reuben's Room Cat Rescue and soon found myself meeting this orange kitty. But she was awful. Absolutely awful. She was mean and she jumped up on the counters in the shelter. I liked her about as much as she liked me -- which was not at all!

Jeanine, the owner of the rescue, was so sweet. We stayed there for awhile visiting with all the cats, but none of them seemed right. She told us about how she had cats at other locations as well - such as a pet store near my parents' house.

We soon found ourselves at the pet store looking at cats. That's when I first saw Isabelle. I don't know exactly what it was about her that drew me in. But once I saw her, that was it. She was so calm and sweet. And so soft. I thought she was beautiful. I thought she was perfect. I no longer cared about any of the other cats we were visiting. I had to have her. I immediately pulled out my cell phone and called Jeanine to tell her. We were going on vacation to the Florida Keys in a few days and I didn't want to risk her being adopted by someone else while we were gone. And good thing! Jeanine informed me she had several calls about Isabelle {then called Lizzy} while we were gone.

On January 3, 2006 I picked Isabelle up from the pet store and brought her home. She was officially mine. I've had some good memories with her. When she first came to live with me we used to snuggle every day. She'd get antsy and upset if we didn't have our "snuggle time" She really is a sweet cat who loves to have attention from us.

She went through a phase where she slept IN my pillow case!

Today I made a very hard decision and an even harder phone call. Today I called Jeanine, who I haven't talked to in five and a half years, and told her I'd like to bring Isabelle back to them. There are many reasons and it wasn't a spur of the moment decision. In fact, it's something we've been thinking about for well over a year now. In a few days, I will take Isabelle back to Reuben's Room and surrender her.

The good news? I know she will be well cared for at Reuben's Room. I also know, having adopted out two cats previously, that the sadness will eventually fade away. But I do know that Isabelle will always be missed. She was my first "baby" and I will love her always.

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