welcome to the family winston

Happy Wednesday friends! I hope that you are having a lovely week so far! Today I am excited to share about a new little member of our family- Winston!

We just recently adopted an adorable little 12 week old kitten from my sweet friend Clarita (whom you may remember me talking about staying at her adorable inglewood cottage in 2022 - you can read more HERE!) and he has already brought so much love and laughter...and adventure.

Winston is fully an adorable kitten who loves to be near us and loves to "help us" with everything. haha! He spends his days eating, running around the house chasing his toys and following us around and often times fighting yawning and falling asleep. haha!

He enjoys being held and Winston came to visit me in the office during work hours and proceeded to help me work... attempted typing up some reports for me. Haha. The above picture my mom snapped when Winston was "meeting some new friends" during the work day haha.

One of his favorite things is a very soft blanket where he loves to curl up on and cross his paws and stretch out.

As a few of you know, my sister has been the "pet namer" in the family forever, but this time my mom came up with Winston... my love of Europe and Winston Churchill, my sister agreed that it was perfect and "dapper" for him.

To be honest- after the loss of Scamper this summer I didn't think that I would get another cat. Scamper had been the perfect fit at the time- with my life not really fair (I felt) to the attention and needs of a dog, so a kitty was truly the perfect fit. After we lost scamper though, my thoughts returned to getting a dog (as we were a huge dog family). I have to smile in a way- I think our family as I grew up wasn't a "cat or dog family" as much as just love on anything and anyone that comes through the door family. *smiles*

At first everyone was encouraging me to just get another animal right away... and I was definitely not ready for that and neither was mom to be honest. Scamper had truly been part of our family through some of the most difficult days of my life- during my health journey, the loss of dad, the loss of Ba, several cross country moves and several other major personal things behind the scenes. The thought of another animal felt "wrong".

But about a month ago I started feeling differently and so did mom. We missed having a pet around the house and as I knew that it would be a lovely addition. I started looking at dogs as this was the direction I had wanted to go and then once again felt that with a bunch of upcoming travel trips it wasn't the most fair to a dog in my current life. (This is not a criticism for anyone who has a dog and travels and has tons of responsibilities, just a simple thought for my current stage of life.)

Then Clarita shared about Winston (whom they called "Windsor" but we affectionately changed it) and immediately mom and I thought he was adorable. Fast forward to the last week and Winston has joined the family.

I admit that the first day felt a little "strange" as I missed Scamper, but Winston has stolen our little hearts immediately. It has reminded me so gently of how big our hearts are for the capacity to expand and love again after loss.

Mom captured one of Winston's and my first conversations in the car traveling home... I was telling him that he was going to love his new home. *smiles*

I want to encourage you to take your time if you are debating on adopting and bringing in a new pet after you have lost one. I was honestly surprised at how quickly (literally that day that we lost Scamper) that people told me to "just get another pet" - even that day. That was the worst advice for me and if you have a big heart and love the pets in your life deeply... you may feel the same way. Take your time, take time to grieve the loss of your pet and friend that you have had and at the right time a new one to love and expand your heart to will happen.