Dear Be-Be,

Look how far we've come, my son! No matter how old you're going to get, you'll always be my little boy! (Sorry that this letter didn't come out right on the 11th, but it isn't late by much!)

It has been nine years since my mom (your grandma) and I found you at the end of our driveway and took you off the street to give you something to eat. You were so skinny back then! Now, look at you: plenty to eat, though you are very picky, and a little bit of a belly on you…

You became part of the family in no time!

I'm sure you remember that we didn't officially take you in as our pet cat right away on that day, though I did give you your name a day or two afterward (you're welcome). However, I was ever so grateful that you chose to stick around for over a month since then!

You would come and go for a place to eat and a place to sleep on our terrace (when we still lived on the second floor) for a short time before you would go out to do your business in the dirt by the side of the house (during your pre-litterbox days), visit us while we would rake the leaves in the front (and even let me bury you in the leaves), and be your all-around stray cat self. I have no idea what you did while you were still a street-dweller, but I'm sure it wasn't glamorous!

However, the real moment you became our pet was when you got seriously injured.

One night, you came to us with a bloody wound on your back paw that you likely got from another, much more feral, animal (I'm still waiting for you to tell us the story about that…), so a successful yet few hundred-dollar operation sometime later, my dad decided that you were our new pet! After that came your neuter operation, but I'm sure you don't want to remember that…

Be-Be, I'm proud to call myself your "adoptive" mother, because you have been my furry bundle of meowing joy since I was 13! I mean, it really says something when you have put up with me during all of my teenage years as well as my cousin JJ during his toddler and preteen years (and you'll have to put up with his teenage years to come, so you'd better watch out)!

Also, thank you for learning how to behave around the dogs within the last year. I know both of them would chase you around the backyard, playing rough with you (especially Georgie), but they're just curious and looking to play with you. They're your family, too!

From the bottom of my heart, my tiger, I love you with all of my heart and will do everything in my power to protect you and keep you around our family for as long as possible. That was why it was hard for me to adjust to your becoming an outdoor cat just last year. After all of those years of strictly being an indoor house cat, you finally got the freedom you've been wanting for so long, and I'm so happy for you…

My family and I can agree that you have been the best cat for us to have!

Even after the times when you used to leave bloody claw marks on our skin if we handled or played with you too roughly. Or when you sometimes barf up your food if we would give you too much. Or when you go on several killing sprees to hunt down innocent chipmunks, birds, or rabbits in both yards, nonetheless, these were and are small prices to pay to keep you with us.

I love you, Blackberry Butterscotch. And for our sanity, please stop killing all of the animals!