I worked the evening shift at Iowa Methodist Medical Center. I was single then, no kids. Well . . . if you acknowledge Bandit as my Baby, then, I had a fine young bouncing baby boy. My mom even confessed that she called him "Baby Bandit" in her prayers.
"Well? He wouldn't be a B.B. like my B.B., right?" she would say.
True. My mom even joked with me about how we run to the "B"'s in the names of our cats.
In the beginning, there was Bun Bun. And what an exceptional cat he was indeed. If you wanted a cat who could rough house with the best of them, be a fighter when he had to be,and still nuzzle up to you and purr . . well there was no one finer that Bun Bun. There were these other random cats we had when I was growing up. Outdoor cats like Boom Boom, Bickley, Benji . . .
And then there was Mom's siamese. Not a "B" cat, but every bit as memorable and sweet. Squawky. He loved everyone . . . but he and my mom bonded.
So Bun Bun and Squawky were the standard I felt Bandit might be aspiring to, as far as cats. For now, though, I was having too much fun watching him and Snowball play together.
I was studying for my nursing boards at the time. I would sit in a rocking chair, reading a nursing book, and before too long, Snowball would sit on my lap and purr. Or he would sit on top of my open book.
Not long after, Bandit followed suit. It was if those two were telling me something.

"Now look, mom. You know your nursing stuff. You WILL pass the nursing boards this February. Right now, you need to take a break and pet us. We love you. We worry about you. You need to de-stress and pet us. That's right, pet our backs. PURRRRRRRRRRR . . . . . . now doesn't that sound like mewwww-sic to your ears?"

I must admit, I would always remember this. I loved how quickly we took to each other. Little knowing what curves would be thrown at me in the next year . . .

Only weeks passed, and then there were problems between my roommate and I. We each had our own individual issues. It was a stressor that would have completely rocked my world, had it not been for Bandit and my roommate's Snowball . . . . .

The next thing I knew, Snowball was now someone else's cat! My roommate decided she would rather have a dog. I don't guess that Bandit was too crazy about this idea, but what could I say. She insisted that if she would rather have a dog, that it was her right.
Well, that's all well and good, I thought. But you are NOT taking Bandit away from me!!!!!

I realized that might mean the end our our roommatehood. Oh well.

So it was in March of 1993, I was moving to an apartment. But I made sure this was an apartment complex that accepted cats!!!! I did have some positive news, though. I passed my nursing boards!!!

I would get stressed out a lot. But there was sweet Buddy Bandit to lick my cheek and purr in my ear. He sure was getting big. I could hardly believe how fast he was growing. Whenever I was lying down in bed during the day, he knew I was sad or stressed out about something. He was always there to purr, and lick my cheek.

Then, I had a decision to make. Did I want to stay in Iowa for the reat of my life, and deal with cold, snowy winters? Did I want to make some changes that I might not be able to make later on? Did I want to make a fresh start?

It was a hard decision to make, but I said "yes" to a job offer in Phoenix.

The thing was , what would I do about Bandit? We had just formed a trust, a bond. I looked into Bandit's soulful eyes. Could I just leave him?

ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!!!! We were moving out west!!!!!