I’m Bates. Our dad is a proud alum of Bates College.

I’m Tufts. Our mom is a proud alum of Tufts University.

Once upon a time, about 10 years ago, our parents met through one of those online dating services. One of the first things they shared with each other was where they had each gone to college. Since those colleges are rivals in the New England Small College Athletic Conference – better known as the NESCAC League – they had a lot of fun right from the start kidding each other about whose college is the better one. When they were married three years ago, they hung the banners above at their reception, as their college rivalry was a fun part of their story and many of their family and friends in attendance also attended Bates and Tufts.

When Mom and Dad decided to add two Maine coon kittens to the family, where did they go to find us? Online of course! If that approach worked so well for finding each other, they expected that it would do the same for finding us. It did! After doing lots of research, Mom and Dad settled on Coldstream Cattery in Enfield, Maine. They put down a deposit for us and then waited for their turn on the waiting list. About two months later our breeder Marie contacted them and said they could have their pick of our litter. They chose us from among five kittens born to Nattie and Chatty. Time to think of names while they waited for us to be big enough to bring to our forever home.

Now, Mom and Dad don’t take anything too seriously, and they love their story. After trying out many names and not really loving any of them, our mom had a brainstorm while out on her morning run. She was so excited that she stopped running and texted our dad, “How about Tufts and Bates?” she wrote. “Perfect!!!” was Dad’s response. And that is how we got our names.

But wait! Which kitten got which name? Since the mascot of Bates College is the bobcat and Bates’s coloring matches that of a bobcat more closely than Tufts’s does (he’s the darker one – more like the solid gray coloring of Jumbo, the beloved elephant mascot of Tufts University), the lighter of is was dubbed Bates and the darker, Tufts.

It is a silly story, we know. But life is short, have fun with it!

Why are we wearing ribbons in our school photos? Read on to find out.

Our breeder used ribbons in the photos she posted of us as we grew. Here we are at only a couple of weeks old. Bates is on the left, Tufts on the right.

Tufts a couple of weeks later.

Bates a couple of weeks later.

Here we are in our pre-ribbon days……

Bates at two days old – too little for a ribbon!

Tufts at two days old.