08/06/2026
Part I: The Dream
Today would have been Nugget’s 16th birthday.
When I was 19 years old I dreamed that I had a beautiful, fluffy orange cat named Nugget. I was living in Brooklyn and desperately trying to adopt a cat. Every shelter seemed to think I was too young, too broke, or too unstable. Then, through a completely ridiculous chain of events, my mom met a hoarder woman who had a litter of sick kittens.
She sent me photos (the second pic here is my very first photo of Nug).
The kitten wasn’t fluffy like the cat from my dream, but without thinking I said: “Save the orange one.”
That tiny, sick kitten grew into the cat from my dream who would be my best friend for the next sixteen years.
Looking back, it feels less like I found Nugget and more like she found me.
