My loves, thy names be Rajah and Abu

OK, so they're cats. My cats.

Rajah, aka Noodle, and Abu, aka Bean, have been with me through a lot. We're on our second husband, went through a couple boyfriends, we've moved about 5 times and now we have a kid and a dog. They don't like the dog so much.

Raj sleeps with me every night and comes up and kisses my face just after we climb into bed. Bu sleeps in the other room - he's not much of a loverboy like Raji is.

Bu likes to sit on your lap when you're on the toilet. It takes him some time to get there, he weighs almost 20 pounds, but once he's there it's hard to get him off.

They both love to get their ears scratched and Abu is just now realizing how good it feels to get your belly rubbed.

I've had Rajah since January 1993 and he was not quite a year old at the time. He actually had a twin brother that I had too, Cogsworth. Cogssy died a few years later from feline leukemia. That was rough. So, soon there after, along came little bitty Bu-e. He was a little yellow fuzz ball when he came home. Too cute.

I can't help but think that the likelihood of both/either of them dying gets higher and higher everyday. I love 'em to death. They were my first kids. They've been with me no matter how good or how bad things got and give me unconditional love.

My daughter, when she tells people she isn't an only child, refers to the cats as her two little brothers and the dog as her little sister. She loves 'em to death too. Tells both of them good night every night and kisses them if she can catch them.

It's only my husband that doesn't like them much anymore. And it's only been since he got his dog. How do I feel about the dog? Meeh.

I'm a cat person - not a dog person.