The first time Stella ever stayed at my parents’ house, her and David got downstairs before I did one morning (well, all mornings). Stella came to greet me when I arrived in the kitchen. But something was different about her. I looked at her, and I looked at her, and I got closer to her. There was something red right between her eyes. And as I got closer, I realized that it was shaped like lips. My mom had kissed Stella right on her forehead! It was so cute. She looked like a Valentine’s doggy.

Many years earlier, little miss Muffin kept turning pink. Her white snout (is it called that on cats? Her nose and mouth area, then.) and her white front paws were rosy. We couldn’t figure out what was happening to her. And then I saw it…Muffin had snatched my mom’s blush brush. She would carry it around with the bristles in her mouth and the handle dangling down. And then she would get a little frisky and start batting it like a mouse, turning her paws pink too. Such a goof.

My pretty princesses.