I Adopted a Polar Bear

When I was three, my best friend was the grey, pot-bellied cat that my parents had rescued from the SPCA. During the summer, I would follow her around our sunny backyard, taunting her with leaves and having epic swordfights--waving twig versus madly flicking, crooked tail. During the winter months, I'd feed her milk that I'd warm in the microwave and fall asleep to the sound of her incessant meowling.

When I was six, we added a German shepherd to our family--a female, because my mom was of the opinion that a female would be smaller. She may have been right, but, since the dog grew to be over a 100 pounds anyway, it probably didn't make that much of a difference.