Friends of the Awesome Kind

Have you ever had a friend do something so amazing and selfless for you that you could never repay them, no matter how hard you tried for the rest of your life?

Meet Jessica and Hunter...

(back when we were happy and carefree in the Bahamas)

They have pretty much rocked our lives for the past four months.  I can't even explain how awesome they've been, so I'll just list a few of the many things they've put up with and guarantee you would have quit after about the second bullet.

• We naively thought we'd only need a month to get an apt, get settled and fly the kitties over, so they very graciously agreed to catsit for us.  This is a lot to ask, even if none of the other headaches existed... We all know how much I love my kitties and the thought of giving them to someone else permanently is just gross.
•  Day 1: Frankie and Leon get in a normal cat scuffle.  Frankie wins.  Leon's leg is bleeding but we don't think it's a big deal, plus it's 3:30 in the morning, so we just wait 'til the next morning to get it checked out.
• Day 2: We find out Leon needs staples and we have to postpone our drive to Texas one day because Leon ripped out his staples and had to be taken back to the vet to get stitches.  We also find out Owen needs to have a tooth removed, but they can't do it until we're in Texas, so Jessica has to take him.  He ends up getting two teeth removed (slobber kitty).  Jessica and Hunter have to give both kitties medicine every day, something I've never had to do in 7 years.
• Leon has to be taken to the vet every two weeks to check if his stitches are ready to be removed.  This seriously went on for over 2 months.  They've taken my cats to the vet more times than they've taken theirs...and more times than I've taken both of them in 7 years...and probably more times than she's taken Frankie and I've taken Leon and Owen combined!
• The lease for our apartment said we weren't allowed to have pets, even though the agent said we could.  Major breakdown moment.  Jessica and Hunter think they're never getting rid of the kitties.
• Leon rips down the shower curtain and pees on the baseboards.
• Casey hooks it up with the apartment owner and he changes his mind on the kitties - woot!  
• We CANNOT find an airline who will let us fly the kitties here (that doesn't have a record of killing or losing animals) without someone to fly with them... Time's ticking by and Jessica and Hunter STILL have our kitties.
• We find one - woot! - but they make us go through a pet agency.   It's so expensive I have another breakdown and don't think we can do it.  Casey talks me into my senses and we call the agency.
• We find out we have to have TWO agencies, one in America and one in Dubai.  Doubly expensive.  Freak out moment number 3.  Time's still ticking and they S-T-I-L-L have our kitties, who, by the way, are NOT getting along with Frankie.
• Leon and Owen start tag-team attacking Frankie :( 
• We finally organize the flight, vet appointments, pick up dates, etc.  Hope is near!!
• Nope, just kidding.  Turns out the pet agency in America is the most poorly run business in history with a dummyhead running it.  I can't even go into details because I'll get angry again, but he didn't do what he said he would do and tried to get Jessica to do it at the last minute.  Jessica has a breakdown.  He tries to charge us extra for his incompetence.  About 25 emails are written between the three of us in an hour, and Jessica ends up having to overnight the kitty documents to him so he can actually do what we're paying him to do.  What happens if he doesn't?  The kitties don't fly out on Monday like planned, and they're STIIIIIILL at Jessica and Hunter's.

Are you starting to see how stressful this is for them???  I can't even imagine.  Catsitting for a month is a lot to ask.  Catsitting for 4 months is like the work of a saint.  This has to be a world record for most things gone wrong in a four month time span.  I know it has been super stressful for them but they have been so amazing and accommodating and helpful beyond belief.  We will never be able to repay them or thank them enough, and I just hope Monday gets here super quickly so this gigantic never-ending headache will be over for them!