Sometimes I wonder what kind of mother I would would have been if Jim, my ex, and I had been blessed with children. Seems it wasn’t meant to be; instead, we became godparents four times over.

I believe in meant to be, and in our case with kids, it wasn’t in the stars, but we were okay with that. Now don’t get me wrong. We both believed we’d still have happy, fulfilled lives, and we did. So, instead of kids, we had pets. Lots of them.

I’ve always been an animal person; Jim? Not so much. But married to me, he quickly became one. Luckily, he was a trooper, receptive to whatever I brought home. I think he surprised himself by how much he enjoyed having pets. Or, perhaps he mastered being convincing at pretending to enjoy them.

There was the time I found Rudy, a sickly kitten on a ranch I normally jogged by. The vet said she probably wouldn’t survive her pneumonia but Rudy proved him wrong. Way wrong.

There was the time I arrived home and Jim surprised me with the puppy I’d always wanted — a female cocker spaniel. Tequila ended up needing surgery on both legs, and as an added bonus, both eyes. But what a total sweetheart.

There was the time I found two kittens and their mom living in a giant tire on a beach at Lake Tahoe. My brother’s girlfriend adopted the sweetest kitten of the two, Marin Humane adopted out the mom, and we took Sierra, a holy terror of terrors. I believe that girl may have been possessed.

Then there was Cinder, the cat we rescued from the Oakland hills fire, hence her name. She was so loving, curious, and just a laid-back doll.

I can’t forget about Gussie, aka Augusta. Gussie belonged to Jim’s brother in Kansas. When he couldn’t keep her any longer, we flew her out to California where she thoroughly enjoyed her later years.

Bailey came along when Tequila passed away. Jim chose him, so naturally he picked the one from the litter who wouldn’t stop climbing the cage, wouldn’t stop whining, wouldn’t stop trying to get our attention…and so on. That sealed the deal for Jim; ironically, Bailey proved to be an easygoing, gentle soul.

We adopted a greyhound named Nellie. Lucky for us she had a poor track record so was booted from racing. She was the main attraction at our dog group where we turned the school soccer field into our meeting place on summer evenings.

Nellie would run laps around the field with 11 frustrated dogs in hot pursuit. She once escaped the vet office and ran a half mile into a Safeway store where they caught her in the bakery department. That girl always had a passion for sweets. Nellie was popular with kids, so when our gardener left the gate open, she fled down the street right into the kindergarten classroom. Their teacher said the kids were thrilled to see her and screamed in excitement, “Nellie!”

Callie was a foster I took in while she recuperated from an amputation, but when I saw how well she got along with the other animals, I had to keep her.

I’ve had nine dogs, 11 cats, and have fostered 270 kittens (so far). Yep, it’s an animal house and always will be. All of the pets above have passed on, but my home is still full of cats and dogs. Each has enriched my life, especially when I became single, living alone as an adult for the first time.

Next week, my post will be dedicated to Skip, aka Skipper, aka Skippy, my little character who I said goodbye to last week. Don’t worry, it won’t be a tearjerker. Remember, this is supposed to be a humor blog. But just in case, bring Kleenex.