When I was younger, I used to get strep throat all the time. Whenever I get sick to this day, I never sleep in my bed but instead on the couch in my living room. I was four years old, and we had just recently adopted Sampson from a shelter. I was taking a nap on the couch, and my mom was on the chair beside me, making sure I was okay. Sampson was shy for a while when we first adopted him. He never really spent time with any of us, let alone me. He needed a person to warm up to and love.

I was napping on the couch, in my living room, when someone decided to pay a visit. Sampson jumped up on top of me and lay down. My mom did not want me to be disturbed, so she lifted him off of me and put him back down on the ground. He didn’t even hesitate before jumping right back on me. Again, my mom lifted him off of me. He did not care at all and continued to jump on me again.

“Sampson, get off of her. Oh my God!” my mom exclaimed. When I get strep, it hits hard, so she really did not want me to wake up.

I woke up to the sight of a little tiger cat with fur oranger than the sun, being lifted off of me by my obviously annoyed mother. “No! Leave him there. He isn’t bothering me,” I said.

My mom listened, and Sampson, from that point on, was my cat. There was never a night when he didn’t sleep with me. Sampson would always cuddle with me wherever I was lying or sitting. The cat would run around and chase cat toys all of the time. He would steal my chicken nuggets ninety percent of the time I had them. Even if I was sitting on the ground, he would find a way to cuddle up with me. Anyone and everyone that knew me knew that he was my cat, and we were inseparable.

He was lively and energetic up until 2015. Every winter he would chew the fur off his stomach. We never knew why, he just would. The winter of 2015 was a different story though. He started chewing off his fur all over his body. He stopped eating and drinking. We knew something was wrong. On January 4, 2016 my parents took him to the vet to just see what was wrong. The vet told my parents he had cancer all over his body and many other health issues. My parents decided in that moment that he should not have to suffer anymore. They put him down on that day.

My mom texted me that day and told me I did not have to go to practice and that she would be home when my sister and I got home. She sat us down on the couch and told us the news. I turned as white as a ghost. I remember running over to the corner and just sitting there in a ball crying until my dad came and lifted me up. I had never seen my dad cry before that tragedy.

To this day I have never had so much love for a pet. My cats that I have now never ever come when I call or lay with me. My dad has this theory: “Sampson marked you as his territory, and that is the reason why our cats never pay any attention to you.”
Every time my dad says this I say, “It’s been over two years you would think they would like me a little bit by now.”
“His love is probably too strong to overpower, Belle,” said my dad in the most genuine tone.

Sampson’s energy will live on forever in my world. He was definitely the best gift I could have ever received.