​I first encountered pets long before I was old enough to know what they were. There were usually cats around me.
My mother was a cat lover, and I still remember her picking up abandoned cats whenever she saw them and saying, "Poor little thing.
I remember looking at the kittens in their cardboard boxes, drinking milk without being able to open their eyes, and thinking how cute they were, but at the same time I felt my mother's kindness.
Many cats passed through my childhood.
There were cats that I picked up and drank food and milk and then disappeared a short time later, and cats that stayed at home.
I feel as if I learned something important even as a child by facing life while learning the distance and strength of cats.

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思い起こせば私がペットと出逢ったのはものごころがつくずっとまえのこと。

すぐ身近には大体猫がいました。

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母が猫好きで、捨てられた猫を見かけては、「かわいそうだ」、と拾ってきていたのを今でも覚えています。

段ボールの箱の中でまだ目も開けられずにミルクをミャーミャー飲む子猫たちを眺めながら​、かわいいな、と思うと同時に母のやさしさもその時どこかに感じていました。

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たくさんの猫が僕の幼少の頃の人生を通り過ぎていった。拾われてきてからご飯やミルクを飲んで、しばらく居着いてはそのうちいなくなる猫、または家にずっと居つく猫。

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​猫との距離感、力加減を覚えながら命と向き合うことで子供ながらに大切なことを学んだような気もします。

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