We wound up caring for a cat after a friend's divorce. It was supposed to be just a couple days while my mom found the cat a new home, but by the end of the week my dad was adamant that if the cat left, so would he.

You see, I used to get these awful nightmares as a kid, and that cat figured it out the first night. After that he woke me up every time, before they started to get too bad.

My father said it wasn't often a parent got the chance to actually do something that would help their kid's trauma. Taking allergy meds regularly to cure his kid's screaming nightmares? Worth it every time.

By the time I left for college, my dad was buying Costco chicken just for my kitty and making special meals for him.