Story behind my collections

Items in my gallery have a story behind them. The stories are as follows:

Leidos/turtle items- I've had a pet turtle since a young age (Daisydoodle is named after her) and just find turtles cute and started collecting leido/turtle items since I first joined Mara many years ago.


Butterfly items- I was very close to an elderly lady named Etta. I had known her for over 15 years and she became like my non-biological grandmother and I became like her granddaughter. She always said when something happened to her that she'd 'come visit me' and 'always be around me'. She passed away in January 2010 after having lung and other health problems from smoking for over 60 years non-stop. The day after her funeral viewing I started seeing butterflies, not just one or two, or even a few..but over 40 every single day. Still to this day, 3 years later, I still see butterflies everywhere I go. Needless to say, when I first started seeing them the day after her viewing it was far from weather for butterflies. We had over a foot of snow on the ground! Butterflies hold a very special meaning for me now.

Orange chibs/orange cat items- I had a cat that I had since I was 3 years old and he was 2 days old. His eyes were still closed when I got him. He was a stray cat that I had found in a hay bale where his mother had dug out a hole for all of her kittens. He was the only orange kitten and the only long haired kitten out of the whole litter. Every single other kitten was solid black and short haired. We found homes for the other kittens but kept him and his mother. I had him for 14 years of my life until he had to be put down on October 1st, 2009 due to kidney failure and severe anemia. That cat was my baby and my life. He followed me everywhere, even to take a bath. The day before he had to be put down despite being so weak he still tried to follow me to take a bath and fell over several times. I had a very close bond with that cat and will never be the same since he passed away.

Pumpkin items-Also in memory of my cat, his name was Pumpkin because he was born in October so at 3 I named him Pumpkin due to Halloween.