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The story begins Christmas 2006. After months of bugging my mom for a cat, she caved and surprised me with two precious little rescue kittens - Machu and Picchu.

The bond I shared with Machu is unlike anything I could describe, but it was undoubtedly the most special thing I have ever experienced.

In August 2013, my poor boy was diagnosed with lymphoma and then began a five-month-long battle for his life. Tragically, my baby lost his battle in January 2014. But this story isn't really about him.

About a month before we lost Machu, my boyfriend and I were perusing Petco when we came across the friendliest orange cat in one of the rescue cages. With Machu's illness, we could not take in another kitty at the time, but we just couldn't get this orange beasty out of our heads.

A couple of weeks after Machu passed, Happy (the Petco kitty) came up in conversation, and we decided to email the rescue in hopes of learning that he had found an amazing forever home. Instead, we were told that Happy was having minor health issues (a stubborn lesion on his side),and was currently living in the founder's bathroom due to lack of fosters. We knew we were not ready to adopt another cat at the time, but I desperately wanted to honor Machu's memory in a meaningful way, and so we became Happy's foster family.

In the time that we fostered him, we had lots of ups and downs. The lesion disappeared and reappeared, and he was diagnosed with diabetes, had an ER visit after going hypoglycemic on his third insulin dose, and in the end, had a clean bill of health and was in diabetic remission.

At the end of it all, we realized that handsome Happycat had done a wonderful job of healing our broken hearts (including Machu's sister, Picchu), and brought smiles to our faces every day. And so, although Machu will always hold a special place in my heart, I am proud to say that Happycat is now a permanent member of our little mismatched family.