Lizz Hill Wiker, Prince & Stevie
My husband and I made the decision not to have children. Instead, we found ourselves wanting to adopt a pet and since we both grew up with cats, we decided that would be a good fit for us. We talked off and on for a couple of years, never really landing on the right time, but telling ourselves it would just happen one day. About a year ago, we stumbled upon a cute munchkin kitten on Instagram based in Japan, and we started following him. We both became completely obsessed with this cat we had never met and began texting his Instagram photos back and forth during the day. And when the cat's owners didn't post for a while we became quite sad. Months into our obsession, we confessed to each other that when people asked about this cat’s photo on our phones (his photo was the wallpaper on both our iPhones) we actually said, "yes, that's my cat”. He was often the topic of conversation at the end of the day. We'd talk about how his day was, and how cute he was when he was swatting at his pesky older sister with his short little arms.
Then, in November of last year, I happened to be reading some comments on a friend's Facebook post and I saw someone tag @TNRDentist as a dentist recommendation. I don't know why I clicked on their name, but I immediately noticed that she rescues cats. I went over and checked out her Instagram page and the first photos I saw were of a new litter of four mixed Persian/Bengal kittens that she had rescued back in October. (She rescued them and their mother from a neglectful situation, and was able to nurse the mother cat back to health and bottle feed the kittens until they were old enough to be adopted.)
When I saw was taking adoption applications for them, I immediately alerted my husband and suddenly we felt like THIS was our moment. We had talked about adopting one cat, but she was only adopting them in pairs and we were happy to keep them together. We loved the idea of them growing up with each other and keeping each other company while we are at work. We were both immediately drawn to the smallest kittens with the most prominent markings, Prince and Stevie; their siblings being bigger and with much paler markings, Ziggy and Bjork. We loved the idea of having a boy and a girl AND it just so happened that she suggested keeping Prince and Stevie paired up. It seemed from her photos and videos that they stuck together, perhaps because of their considerable size difference from their other two siblings. We put our application in and after just a few weeks, we brought them home.
[gallery ids="2108,2109" type="rectangular"]Stevie and Prince act a like true brother and sister -- wrestling and chasing each other around and sometimes pushing each other out of the way for our attention, but their love for each other is apparent in everything they do. They clean each other, eat together, sleep together and even use the litter box together! Prince, the bigger of the two, has taken to his role as the big brother. Stevie has always been the smaller, meeker one, even in her meow which is high pitched and makes all of us come running over to her when you hear it. Prince is quieter, plays hard, sleeps longer and has a harder time waking up. He cares for Stevie, waits for her to figure things out and sits next to her when she's not feeling well. He's such a loving brother to her and always makes sure she's ok.
Our life has shifted in such wonderful ways in the short months since we've had them. Prince and Stevie are the absolute love of our lives and we’ve realized we feel like a family now, not just a couple.The cats treat us like their mom and dad and we spoil them like babies. My husband and I even joke with each other that we can't imagine loving a human child as much as we love these two little fur balls. They have become our whole life and it’s been so wonderful watching them grow and develop unique personalities.
Lizz Hill Wiker is a 3D modeler and jewelry designer. She works full-time as a 3D modeler and technical designer for hardware components and jewelry for the Tapestry, Inc, parent company to Coach, Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman brands. www.lizzhill.tech.