Meet The Furry Morgans!

One thing that Erika and I instantly connected on, was the level of love we had for our animals.  I came into our relationship with my dog, Polaroid, and Erika brought into our relationship her dog, Riley, and her cat, Mia (AKA “Meow meow”).  Together we unexpectedly rescued our other cat, Kona (AKA “little meow”).  Our fur babies are our whole world.

Polaroid and I have a fairly unique story, because…as some people might say, I stole him.  You see, I had somewhat been on a search for a furry companion for months prior to his arrival.  Members of my family kept telling me that I did not need a dog, because I did not even have a home of my own, I was a full-time student, and quite frankly, my life was a hot mess.  I could hardly care for myself, let alone a dog or puppy.  Despite everyone’s concerns, I was eager to find a furry companion to call my very own.  I had once lived with a roommate that agreed we could get a puppy, but by the time I was ready to move out, it was blatantly obvious that Ollie-Pop was his dog and not mine.  She loved him so much, that there was no way I could tear them apart.  So, after moving out, I was determined to find my match.  I’m a strong believer that a person does not choose their pet, but that the animal chooses their human.

A few months after moving out, I was searching day in and day out at animal shelters for a dog that “spoke” to me.  Eventually I found one and made a call about them, but later found out that that particular dog came as a package deal with another dog; They absolutely could not be separated.  I knew taking on a dog would be a big responsibility and immediately recognized the responsibility of two dogs, and ultimately decided to walk away.  I was down on my luck-convinced I would never find my match.  Until one beautiful, glorious evening when I had gone over to my former sister-in-laws house to hang out with her (Her being Erika.  Yes, my other brother’s first wife was ALSO an Erika; Making it a total of three Erika Morgan’s in our family) and my niece (Erin) much like I did almost every evening.  My niece had two adorably tiny and fluffy puppies there.  Of course I squealed and nearly died from all of the cuteness, but most importantly, I almost instantly felt a connection with Polaroid.  Of course, his name was not Polaroid at the time, as they had literally only been in our family’s possession for a few short hours, but nonetheless, I instantly loved him.  Don’t get me wrong, ANY 8 week old puppy is easy to fall in love with, and I obviously “oo’ed and awe’ed” over his litter-mate and sister (later named Sketchez), too.  But it was days later that I realized just how different mine and Polaroid’s connection was.  Anytime I came and went, he greeted me excitedly, followed me around, and cried and waited at the door whenever I would leave.  And my behavior was changing, too.  I HAD to see him everyday.  And usually several times a day, at that!  I would come home between my classes just to make sure they got play time and potty breaks.  I would come over every evening before and after my workouts just to cuddle, feed, and play with these two.  And eventually, I was asking my niece if I could borrow the two of them (and then later just Polaroid) for sleepovers at my house.  He quickly became my best friend, and my favorite companion I’d ever had.

I mean, cuteness overload, am I right?!

I decided to quit drinking about three months after Polaroid came into my life, and as a result, I sadly lost a ton of friends during that time.  Polaroid truly became my very best friend.  At one point, Polaroid and I even went on a camping trip to the Grand Canyon for three nights and four days.  Just the two of us.  And we had a BLAST!Yes, I am THAT person.  Don’t judge me!!!

Anyways, the story goes, we had formed this undeniable bond.  My former sister-in-law, Erika and my niece Erin knew it, too.  But I doubt they ever expected what would happen next.

The three of us went on a road trip to Washington state for a wedding. I surprisingly stayed behind to hang with Emmy (the roommate mentioned in my blog post “We are new to this blogging town”), which later resulted in me moving to Washington to be her roommate.  But before that could happen, I HAD to have my buddy, Polaroid with me.  I basically gave Erin and Erika the notice that I would be getting him and taking him with me.  I think my niece, Erin probably still holds a bit of a grudge about this, but you know, if you were to ask her today, she would likely tell you that Polaroid and I were meant to be together.  Or, at least I HOPE that’s the response she would give you! HAHA!  I’m kidding.  Erin and Erika still get to see Polaroid when they come to visit :).

SO, Polaroid and I packed up, and headed to Seattle!

Three months later, we met Erika and Riley, and our lives changed forever!

Erika had a somewhat similar experience with Riley.  She was going with a friend to pick up a puppy they had found online for $50.  When they arrived there were just two puppies left.  The one going home with her friend, and the last one without a home(Riley).  I’ll have to have Erika write her own version of her intense bond with Riley, but in a short version, and from my words, the similarities are uncanny. As they too, are the very best of friends.

As Erika and her friend were about to leave, Riley jumped onto the leg of the woman selling the puppies, and the woman somewhat shooed Riley away and said “No, they don’t want you.”  My wife, being the compassionate animal lover that she is, said she would be back with $50 if that puppy was also for sale.  She obviously was, and Erika returned with the money and later unexpectedly returned home with Riley.  Unfortunately, we are going to have to dig up some pictures of Riley from when she was a puppy (Erika didn’t obsessively take pictures of her and store them to social media the way I did.  Sheesh, what was she thinking? ;P) So, they will be added later.  But here she is-our sweet schnauzer-shnoo 

I NEVER thought I could ever love another dog even remotely close to the way I love Polaroid.  But boy, was I wrong!  Riley and I had a rough start, but now we are the best of buds.  She is my gal, and we are one big happy family!

And finally, to our cats, Mia and Kona.  Erika had rescued Mia as a kitten from a shelter on the island we live on about 6 months before the two of us had met.  By the time I had met Mia she had just stopped sucking on her own nipples.  Yes, you read that right; Mia used to suck her own nipples.  Please email me if this is something YOUR cat does or has done, because I am pretty convinced it’s the most unusual thing I have ever heard of, and I’m not sure it’s considered “normal”.  haha!  Anyways, Mia was home alone a lot by the time Erika and I had started dating, because Erika worked a lot, and then would drive down south to where I lived, too.  She was NEVER home.  Erika had even considered getting rid of her at one point, because she felt the life she had provided for Mia was not fair to her.  I will write a separate blog about that, because….it is QUITE the story!  Mia is a BEAUTIFUL, hilarious, and loving cat, but she is also the strangest cat I have ever known.  I’m pretty sure Mia thinks she is a dog about 97% of the time!  No joke!  Here is “Meow Meow”. 

Erika and I were overly satisfied by having three animals and no more for our little three bedroom, two bathroom house, but Erika’s grandma captured stray kittens from her backyard and insisted we take one.  And have you ever tried saying “no” to a grandmother?  It’s basically impossible.  So, alas, we got the runt of the crew and named her Kona.  She was wild then, and she is wild now.  Although, she sure does know where her home is!  She spends a majority of her day outside gallivanting around the neighborhood with other neighborhood cats, but then returns home in the evenings to a warm house, and a dish of food!  She has really started to warm up to us, and I would say she finally identifies as a member of the family!!

So that’s it!  We have covered every member of the Morgan clan.  That is, until we decide to muster up the confidence to leap into parenthood! Thank you for reading this long blog!!!

-The Morgans