Tom and Jerry had the Best Friendship

A few weeks before considering a cat, I watched two whole seasons of Tom and Jerry. And three weeks before then, cats creeped me out.

It was a bias that had three experiences behind it: I rubbed a cat's belly once and it clawed my arms; Coming out of the bathroom from my mom's home while glowing wide green eyes stood in front of my room in the dark; and most people I knew felt the same way I did.

But I still had room in my heart hidden away behind my stubborn inability to willingly change my mind.

Though, it wasn't until a drive two hours away from my home that I finally held an undeniable body snatcher, and though I mean this literally, once I held him, I was unable to let him go.

He was born on a farm to a family who made and sold honey, but unfortunately couldn't afford a litter of kittens. I found him online, and by the time my family and I arrived to see him, I was already beginning my routine of what I call "The Search for Lee".

A boy of around age 11 brought him to us from hiding behind a sofa, and when he put him in my arms, his fluffy tail danced and his purring vibrated my chest, I held him close and slowly rocked while we talked with the previous owners of what he needed and what he was like.

But, I knew nothing would change my mind.

Then, we drove home, and still I hardly knew anything about cats.

Before we went to get Lee, we bought him food, a collar, a couple of bowls for food and water, litter, and a litter box. We didn't get a tiny cage.

So on the ride home, windows up, and a barely sufficing air conditioning, I fearfully stared at this new feline I, more than twenty minutes ago, adored.

My phone was in my hand locked on Google, while I researched everything he was doing next to me. He panted (I'd never seen a cat pant), he tried multiple times to jump, he scratched at the car seats, sat down, stood up, and he meowed the whole time.

I was a little freaked out, but I felt bad. He didn't know us all that well, and this was probably kidnapping in his mind.

I kept a calm face, while trying to hold him beside me, and searching "how to know a cat is going to attack you" simultaneously. The process of doing both lasted thirty minutes. Until I tried to teach him how to lay down.

I tapped my fingers on the space beside me and he bent his nose down, curious, to see what it was. Eventually he laid down, but he'd stand right back up when I stopped.

So, I tapped my fingers the whole way home.

From then on, with his night excitement (i.e. him climbing up the curtains, or zapping out of every open door leading outside) and meowing through the night, we all learned to accommodate.

I had a new best friend that changed my view on cats and all pets really, by opening my heart and letting my guard slip against my opinions of what I believed to be true.

In him and because of him; my best friend, nap partner, and a paw to cry on, are all in one feline.