When I was first swept into Mum's family, I was one. I remember the day I met Mum like it was yesterday. It was a 'core memory', as the young people these days would say. Huddled in a tiny cage, making myself as small as possible, I waited with hope as visitors to the adoption centre's event came and went. Slowly, cats were chosen to go to their forever homes. As the day progressed, I noticed a pattern. It was the confident cats being chosen, the ones who gently mewed and nuzzled their faces into the palms of their prospective owners. Quiet cats like me, the ones who were yet to have reason to trust these large, domineering humans, we were the ones being overlooked and left behind.

At that point in my life, my entire understanding of humans was that they were to be feared. I had spent the first year of my immortal life on the cruel streets of urban England, spending cold nights curled under garden bushes, and living in survival mode. When God bestowed upon me the burden of immortality prior to my arrival on Earth, she assured me that I had been chosen because I was destined to bring about an abundance of positivity and love. The hope of someday fulfilling this prophecy was my own reason for fighting through each day during that bleak period.

It was late afternoon when Mum walked in. Her hair was golden like the tendrils of setting sun that were whispering through the gaps in the blinds. She began to browse before she conversed with the manager. "I want the one who is most in need of love." I heard her say. I didn't move as she was guided to my cage. I still didn't move as she kneeled down and gazed into my eyes, commenting on their greenness. I later learned that she loved the colour green. Fearful as I was at that time, when she smiled at me, I knew that she was my home, and that I would have little reason to be afraid again.

Mum is gone now. Her granddaughter, Georgia, is my new life companion. Many people see their family as special, and I am no exception. My family is infinitely special to me, and they are the only ones who know my secret. However, no matter how many generations of this family I come to love and provide with comfort and magic, there will always be a place carved out in my heart for Mum and her sunshine love.