The "Max The Cat" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading the newspaper, as usual, when I came across a rather unique article titled "Cat now a 'doctor of literature'".  Pretty neat name for a story about cats.  The article was posted in a Castleton, Vt. newspaper.  Seems that Vermont State University has bestowed the honorary degree of "doctor of literature" on Max the cat, a beloved member of its community, ahead of students' graduation in the middle of May.  Vermont State University's Castleton campus is now honoring the feline not for his mousing or napping abilities, but for his friendliness.  "Max the Cat" has been an affectionate member of the Castleton family for years, the school said in a Facebook posting.  The popular tabby lives in a house with his human family on a nearby street that leads to the main entrance to campus.  "So, he decided he would go up on campus, and he just started hanging out with the college students, and they love him," owner Ashley Dow said recently.  Hey...who wouldn't love a cat who loves to be petted and held.  Well, he's been socializing on campus for about four years now, and students get excited when they see him.  "They pick him up and take selfies with him, and he even goes on tours with prospective students that meet at a building across from the family's house," she said.  "I don't even know how he knows where to go, but he does," Dow said.  "And then he'll follow them on their tour.  I'd love to see a photograph of Max so I can compare him with my two cats, "The Gray Lady" and "Snickerdoodle."  Both of my cats also love to be petted and given attention.  "The Gray Lady" is the smaller of our two cats while Snickerdoodle is about twice the size of "The Gray Lady", but, is the boss of her larger playmate.  Both our cats love to sit in the front windows of our villa and watch for birds to land in the couple of low growing trees that we have in the front yard.  In the rear of the villa we have a porch that runs from one side of the villa to the other, thus they get a chance to wander back and forth across the windows of the porch, trying to find a bird or other animal that they can watch and attempt to scare off the property.  Neither my wife or myself can remember a time in our lives when we didn't have either a dog or a cat.  Pets can be a large part of a family and share with them their life's moments.  Just one more loving family member to help add to the richness of the family.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.