After attending thirteen schools in twelve years I married Tim Staggs in 1971 and my life became much more stable. I went to three colleges in five years (Tim was an Architecture major and at that time it was a five year degree then.) Tim still knows people he went to kindergarten with. I, on the other hand, have to think hard to remember in which state I went to kindergarten. Yes, my father was in the military and not just the military, the Air Force (or the Chair Force as my son the former Army Officer likes to call it.) I say The Air Force because I was in high school before I realized that people in the other services weren’t those who couldn’t get into the Air Force and civilians weren’t people who couldn’t get in to the military. And they say the Marines are the proud. When Nicholas went on active duty we inherited Calvin, a cat. Neither Tim nor I had ever owned a cat. As I told a good friend of mine, “You can’t love a cat like you do a dog.” We’ve always had dogs. Cats are different. I frequently (much to my friend’s amusement) turn to her for guidance with this cat experience. Calvin was a gray fur-ball with the attitude of a Rottweiler. Loving to his family, but not above a tussle if the occasion called for it. Once I saw him stand up on his haunches and slap our 90 Spinone on the nose. Unfortunately, we lost Calvin to a rare condition when he was only two. I still miss my little gray kitten—who weighed sixteen pounds. After Calvin came two new cats, Walter then Gracie. Guido the Spinone. Guido lived with us for three years before he and Tess became the parents of 8 strapping puppies. In a moment of weakness, we took one of the puppies home. We lost our Guido at the age of ten to cancer. Everyone still misses the big gentle soul. Even the cats. That’s my life in a nutshell…childhood, husband, kid, cats and dogs. Oh, yeah, I write too.