Biography: My First Pet(s)

So, this is my first biographical post, so everyone please bear with me here. The prompt I've chosen for this one is about my first pet. This is actually hard, because by the time I was born, my family already had two pets: a cat named Abu (yes, like Aladdin - I have two older sisters and they were both obsessed with Disney by the time I came along) and a dog named Sadie. Abu was this little black shorthair, and he was honestly the most easygoing, laid-back creature I have ever met. I distinctly remember my dad letting me help him give Abu a bath, and while most cats are not huge fans of water, Abu would just sit there calmly and let you bathe him. He clearly didn't enjoy it, but he was so sweet that he wouldn't have dared to fight us over it. He didn't even mind when toddler me tugged on his tail or tried to play with him as if he were a dog, he just went along with it. We got another cat later on, a tabby named Tigger, and he was the polar opposite of Abu. Having met a few cats in my life, looking back I realize how strange it was that Abu was so tolerant of pretty much everything.
Sadie was a big black lab (and also mixed with some other breeds, but we were never sure which), and my parents got her when my oldest sister was a toddler. She was a lot like that dog in Peter Pan, always watching over the kids and protecting them. When I came along, she was even more protective, because now she had to protect this new, bumbling infant from two older siblings who weren't sure how to deal with a new baby. I have distinct memories of curling up against her when I was little, and we would take naps together. One time, when my sisters and I were in the living room, my oldest sister bent down to whisper to Sadie "Go eat Grace's (my other sister) pizza." She did it as a joke, but Sadie calmly walked over to Grace and snatched the slice of pizza she had been eating right off her plate. My oldest sister was dying of laughter, and Grace just looked completely in shock. We decided that day that Sadie must be fluent in English, and just chose not to speak to us. I remember how much she used to love the snow. By the time I was old enough to play in the snow with my sisters, Sadie wasn't a young puppy anymore, but as soon as you opened the back door to let her out into the cold, crisp air on a snowy day, she would take off running. She would roll around in the snow and chase after us, and if you fell and got snow on your face, Sadie was insistent on licking it off. I was really lucky to grow up with two such amazing pets, and some of my happiest memories include them. Unfortunately, neither of them are alive today, but I like to think I'll probably see them again someday.

I unfortunately don't have any pictures of Sadie or Abu on my phone, but this is my mom's dog, Maya. This picture was taken at our house in Kansas City, but Maya now lives in Colorado with my mom, where she gets to chase deer and go on daily walks with my stepdad. We consider her Sadie's protege. (Source: personal photo)