I never thought that I could ever grow attached to an animal. My parents used to tell me that keeping pets was not worth the responsibility of taking care of them. So, I never grew up with any pets. For the majority of my life, I shared the same belief as them.

On a morning walk around the neighborhood, my family, my aunt and I saw a small gray and white kitten walking along the sidewalk. No one in our neighborhood owned a cat, so we were pretty shocked to see him walking around. He looked about only 3 weeks old and appeared very weak. I wanted to take him home, and while my parents didn't want me to take him, my aunt thought the same as me and offered to take him to her house.

We let this kitten stay in our home. It was a couple days until my aunt left for home anyway, so my parents didn't mind keeping this kitten for the time being. Little did they know that over the course of a couple days, I became attached to this kitten. I bought food, bathed him, and entertained him by dragging a two-foot-long piece of string across the floor and letting him chase it.

It took a decent amount of convincing my parents and my aunt to let me keep this kitten, but a year later, I couldn't imagine life without my best friend, Socks. He has taught me so much about patience and care, and every bit of responsibility has been worth it.