Dear Sam.

You are one of the best things that has ever happened to me. I loved you the moment I laid eyes on you. Letting you go is the hardest thing I've had to do, and I can only imagine in my head that you will be happy somewhere else or I may just crack.

I named you Sam because I had seen the movie "I Am Legend", and the girl dog was named Sam (actually Samantha). I loved that name, so I knew my future cat would be named Sam. When your dad and I got together, I told him I wanted cats as our wedding gift to each other. on Valentine's Day 2009, the local pet shop was having an adoption fair so I decided today would be the day we expanded our family.

When I walked in, you were alone, sleeping in a cage. My heart exploded. I didn't need to look at any more cats. You were meant for me. When I looked at your birth date and it read "December 7, 2008", it sealed the deal. Your dad and I were married the day you were born. Another thing that drew me to you is your freaky seven toes. One of my favorite cats growing up had six toes. Your feet look like little catcher's mitts. Someone had named you "Tiki". The lady had said you are very timid, and only come out of your shell when you get to know someone. How right they would be. I kept telling the lady, "that is my cat. That is my cat!" You had been fixed earlier that day, so you were very groggy when I picked you up and held you. After I decided on your brother Portal, we put you in his cage to see how you two would get along. You curled up to him immediately. I wasn't able to take you home until two days later because of the surgery, so I patiently waited for you.

When you got home, you took to Portal right away but acted like you hated dad and I. You would run under the couch and we would have to coax you out and show you where the food bowl was. I was devastated. When dad went to find you and you hissed at him, we thought we may have to give you back to the adoption people. After around a week, you came around. You still ran away if we got too close to you, but when the time was right, you would come around us and get pet.

You are the true definition of a cat. You sleep all the time and want to be left alone unless it suits you. You liked playing with Portal more than playing with us. But a funny thing happened when you were around 6 months old. You would normally, like Portal, fall asleep at night between dad's legs. When you would wake up, or see us rustling around, all of the sudden you would start your engines. We called it "furr-furr". Your purr was so loud that you could hear it across the room! You were determined to get pet. You would walk on us all the way up to our face and start licking our hands or our face until we would pet you. Sometimes I would be half-asleep and I'd call out, "no, nang!" (one of our nicknames for you). But eventually I got used to it. You would usually head towards me and not dad. I think I'm a better petter anyway :) Once I took a picture of you when your furr-furr engines were on and you were laying on my neck:

We called this your "Goomba face". We always giggled at you because your cat expression was always the same. You liked to pounce. Dad and I had an inside joke where if we heard something moving around we'd say, "is that Sam?" then you would *FOOF!* pounce! You rarely meowed, and when you did, dad and I would laugh because it was usually when you were calling for Portal. You were Portal's big brother. You would play fight and always win. You would groom Portal all the time (we called it "Bromancing"). You wouldn't eat people food, except for melted cheese.

You were there for me during my darker moments, and just having you around made me feel better. Your nicknames were Nang, The Nang, Sammy, Nammy. I will never get over you. I promise you I will never love another cat as much as I love you, Sam. Thank you for the joy and the comfort you gave me. I hope that you will bond with someone else and show them just how wonderful you truly are. I love you so much.