"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!!!!!