by Mark David
(Birmingham, AL USA)
Day 1, taking it all in stride.
It wasn't until I lost my cat (June 2009) that I truly identified him as a NFC. Before that we had casually assumed that he had a lot of Maine Coon in him. After some research, I am quite sure Mr. Big was a Norwegian Forest Cat.
He was, bar none, the best cat/pet I've ever had! Growing up I had several cats in my family most notably a Havana Brown. Mr. Big was our (my wife and I) only boy.
He was very biased toward me and we always joked that I was his daddy. Of all the stories I could share about this cat, the most memorable one is concerning the day we got him - his homecoming.
My wife found him at a shelter and gave him to me for my 39th birthday. The story is that when he casually walked out of the pet carrier into our house for the first time, he never even took a look around the place to appraise it. He simply sat in Shawn's lap as if he was home and had been there forever. He was the coolest cat I had ever met, right out of the box! I've included a photo of that very moment.
Mark