My husband and I never had any children, once we decided it was “that time” and after several attempts at becoming pregnant, we went through all of the basic tests and found out the issue was with my husband. We were in our mid-20s and thought we had “all of the time in the world” to process and cope with this news. We had no insurance and certainly could not afford to pay out of pocket for the vast majority of tests and treatments, our best personal guess was that the Meningitis that he almost died from when he was 13 years old had something to do with it. The doctors went over all of our options but we both decided that it “was what it was” and if it was meant to be it would happen naturally. I can’t say that I was too awfully upset with the news; my mom always said that I preferred Barbie dolls over baby dolls so maybe that was a hint that I wasn’t cut out to be a mom to a human. We found joy and happiness in being parents of a variety of fur babies: dogs, cats, goats, and some non-fur babies: ducks and fish. B.J. was our first pet as a couple (initials stand for our first names); my Dad got her for us as a gift. She was my heart dog, a terrier mutt and oh so smart. Kitty Babe, a solid white cat with blue eyes that was deaf, was B.J.’s best pal. They traveled with us every time we made trips to WV to visit our families, our parents thought of them as their grandkids and loved them just as much as if they were real children. After several years, and many different types of pets, we came to the realization that cats were our favorite, so much easier and way less needy. Gosh now that I try to recall I believe there may have been one too many to remember, but my favorites by far (and the ones that I felt a soul attachment to) were Max and Benji.
Playing with Barbie. Lots of stuffed animals in the background...loved those, too.
Numerous pets throughout my life. BJ was one of the only dogs, I loved her dearly;
but cats became my preferred pet soon after.