In the beginning are two families....

The Brand Story

Some brands are born in boardrooms. Ours was born in grief, in a barn, and in the most unexpected love.

It started with Skittles — not our cat, but one I fell for completely. He belonged to a dear friend and her family, a sleek and beautiful black cat who was famously selective about people. But for some reason, every time I visited, Skittles would come out of hiding just for me. There's something about a reserved animal choosing you that gets right into your heart. I loved him immediately.

Not long after, Skittles began to slow down. He was old, and his body was starting to show it. We knew the clock was ticking.

Then a little black kitten appeared in my barn. Scruffy, uninvited, and completely certain he belonged there. He looked so much like Skittles that naming him felt less like a choice and more like an obvious fact. I called him Baby Skittles. He was officially a barn cat — an outdoor cat — and that was that.

Or so I thought.

Then the hard days came, one right after the other. Our dear friend's Skittles passed away suddenly at the vet during a procedure. He was old and tired, and his body simply let go. The grief of that was still fresh when we lost our own Macy — our big, beautiful Black Russian Terrier — suddenly and without warning. That loss hit like a wave we never saw coming. The kind of grief that makes the house feel wrong and too quiet and too still all at once.

Baby Skittles — this little sawdust-covered barn cat who was absolutely, definitely going to live outside — somehow knew. Within a few short weeks he had made his way inside. Onto the couch. Onto the bed. Onto every piece of furniture we own. Nobody stopped him. Nobody wanted to.

He is adorable and hilarious and loving in ways that still surprise us. He gives the whole family a place to put their love — and their grief — when there was nowhere else for it to go. He is the container that held us together.

And yes. He still goes outside. He still naps in his lawnmower hammock beneath the carpenter bee nest. He still comes back inside covered head to paw in sawdust, completely unbothered, ready to climb on the couch.

He's dirty. He's funny. He's family. And he's the star of the show.

There is more to this story. There is the raw parts of how the original Skittles family is dealing with the loss of their cat and the survivor named Jules, a lovely cat that now greets me like Skittles did when I visit. You will read more as we journey through life's changes and build a brand together.