Throughout my entire life, I've always had animals. A poodle named Monkey was the first that I lived with, followed by a cat named Mio. (Mio was actually Mia at first, until my preschool self heard the devastating news that Mia was a boy.) Mio was followed by a pair of birds, who were followed by some fish, who were followed by a dog named Kirby. Then we had Benjamin and Franklin, Macy and Toby, Piper and Hugo...and believe me, that doesn't even begin to cover all of the animals I've had in my life.

All of this is to say one thing; I really like animals. I'd always grown up with them being a part of the family, so when I moved out on my own I knew that I would end up getting my own little fur babies some day.

When most people turn 18, their first decision as a 'true adult' is to buy a lottery ticket, get into an 18+ club, or buy a pack of cigarettes. However, my first adult decision was to rescue a ferocious lion.

Okay, so maybe ferocious isn't the right word. But furry is! My first pet on my own was a cat named Hazel, a sweet little girl with a polka dot on her nose and a strange obsession with cheetos. My roommate had also gotten a cat, so they were the best of friends until my roommate moved into a new apartment.

Now, Hazel the cat is a very needy little cat, and after her cat friend moved out, she threw a fit. Anytime the door was closed, I heard a meoooooowwww. I was sleeping? Meoowwwww. I left the house? Meoooooowwwww. So what did I do? Well, I figured that two cats couldn't be too much harder than one, so I went to the shelter to find my Hazel a new friend!

Into our family joined Luna, a sweet tempered kitty who had been abandoned by two previous homes. After hiding from me for a good two months, sweet Luna opened up and became a wonderful sister to Hazel, who no longer cried every time I was around.

And that is how I became an 18 year old with two cats.

But how did I become a 20 year old with four cats? Was I really so obsessed with my cats that I needed more?

My family is really involved with our local animal shelter, and they had started fostering kittens. The shelters around here are so full that they need a bit of extra help caring for the animals, and fostering plays a huge role in giving them those extra hands. After visiting with the foster kittens that my family had, thoughts starting popping up in my head. "I can take care of one more cat! There are so many cats without homes, and I can provide that for them. Would that be crazy? That might be crazy. I just want to help."

I gave myself a few weeks to make sure that I wasn't just having those thoughts because the kittens were so cute. It's sort of like when you see someone with a baby and you start getting baby fever, but then once you think about all of the work that goes into caring for a baby your thoughts shift to 'Eh, betta not'. I had to make sure I didn't just have kitten fever. After I was still thinking about it weeks later, I walked into the shelter with my cat carrier in the car, ready to find the final member of my family.

This is Molly. As soon as I walked into the shelter, she jumped up in to my lap, grabbed my hand, and started licking me incessantly. My choice had been made for me, and this was the final cat that I was going to take care of. I walked up to the front desk, turned in the application to adopt her, and then went back into the cat room to hang out with the rest of the adult cats. But there was a problem. I had fallen in love with another one of the adult cats. So I left the shelter to try to convince my mom to adopt her, saying to the cat on my way out, "You're such a sweet girl, you're going to get such a nice home some day."

Long story short, my mom told me that she didn't have any more room at her house, but I definitely could take care of one more. I thought to myself, who the heck has four cats when they're twenty? How judged am I going to get if that happens?

And then I realized what would happen if I left that cat at the shelter. Adult cats often get overlooked, so she could be stuck at that shelter for several years. She was already three years old and hadn't yet had a home, so she might just give up on ever getting one. And she didn't deserve that; everyone deserves a home and someone to love them, and that is how I decided that it didn't matter whether or not I would be judged as a crazy cat lady, what really mattered was that I had the means to provide this cat with a loving home, and I was going to do so.

The cat on top is Minerva, who is hugging Molly, who is hugging me. Because they had a home. Because they had a family. Because they felt love.

I'm not obsessed with cats. I love cats, but I'm not obsessed with them. But what I am obsessed with is providing opportunities for everyone who can't take care of themselves, and when it comes to animals, my way of doing that is through opening up my home. Is it a normal thing to do at my age, have four cats? Absolutely not. But what's normal isn't what matters. What matters is what decisions you can make that will benefit your community -- each and every part of it.

Every time I walk into my house, all four cats are waiting for me to come home. Every time I sit on the couch, at least one cat is sitting on top of me. Luna still likes to hide. Molly really likes human food. Minerva pretends that she's the mother of the group. And Hazel? She's still my little polka dot nosed cat who is obsessed with cheetos...her family has just grown a bit bigger over the past few years. And I wouldn't have it any other way.