When Jessica Leatherman’s 7-year-old daughter started first grade this year, she began taking the school bus. But she doesn’t wait at the bus stop alone.
She has someone special making sure she gets to school safely — the family’s rescue cat, Craig.
2019 saw the black and white cat at an adoption event, and Leatherman decided to adopt him. After spending eight and a half months in the shelter, Craig quickly integrated into the family.
He is very, extremely relaxed. Leatherman told The Dodo, “I don’t think there’s a single thing that can shake him; he doesn’t even wake up when there’s thunder and lightning. “He is like a clown when he is awake. He enjoys knocking stuff off of counters to get your attention.
Craig has a special relationship with Leatherman’s daughter and took note of her new morning routine. He started going to the door and meowing whenever she was leaving for the bus, so one day, Leatherman decided to open the door to let the cat see her daughter off.
“The bus stops right in front of our house, and I figured I’d let him come outside [so he could] hang out with me,” Leatherman said. “But instead of me, he chose to hang out with her, and he followed her down the sidewalk and down the driveway and just sat there the entire time she was waiting for the bus.”
“At the time, I thought, ‘Is he really doing this?’” I anticipated that he would leave the bus as soon as she boarded to come back to me, but instead, he remained there to see that she boarded before watching it go, the woman continued. He won’t move from the bus stop’s corner until it is no longer visible.
Leatherman had thought that Craig handing off his sister at the bus stop would just happen once, but now it has become part of their morning ritual, which he takes very seriously.
“He’s been doing it every day,” Leatherman said. “He’s given himself the job. I don’t know why but it’s super sweet.”
Since Craig has taken over drop-off duty, he’s become a bit of a local celebrity.
“Now all the neighborhood kids know him, and the whole bus is like, ‘Craig!’ whenever they pull up,” Leatherman said. “So he’s just kind of become this sweet little neighborhood mascot in a way.”
And when Leatherman’s daughter returns home from school, the rescue cat is always there waiting for her. “They are two peas in a pod,” Leatherman said. “She’ll be sitting next to him, and he’ll just rub all over her and purr. It’s the cutest thing.”
“He’ll follow her around the house if he’s awake and just lie down near her, almost as if he’s protecting her,” she added.
Leatherman started posting adorable videos of Craig’s bus duty, and the sweet rescue cat now has fans around the world. But all Craig cares about is spending time with his favorite little person.
“A lot of people were saying in the comments for the videos that he just seems like a grandpa reincarnated that sees his little girl off to school,” Leatherman said. “And that’s just so him — he’s the grandpa that everyone wants.”
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