No, that’s not the start of a bad joke, it’s the opening line of a beautiful story.

In the Beginning…

About five years ago, a young couple named Dustin and Lauren White opened their own floral business, Doniphan Flowers & Gifts in Doniphan, MO. Tremendously friendly people with a great passion for their store and the floral industry, they called on their collective experiences to forge their way through the first few years of owning and operating a new business. They did well. They were becoming successful and well known throughout the Doniphan area, and they thought their lives were full. They were wrong.

A Twist of Four-Legged Fate

One bright, spring morning as they arrived to open the shop, they noticed that one customer had decided to come early. A six month old, black and white kitten was nosing about the dumpster, looking for food.

It wasn’t unusual to find stray cats in the area, but most were just this side of feral and ran at the first sign of people. This one was different. She didn’t flee when they approached and was in fact quite friendly. She was skinny and thin, bedraggled in every sense of the word, and yet something about her prompted them to want to help.

With little deliberation, the couple brought the kitten inside, intending to feed it and perhaps help to find it a good home. As tends to happen in life, one day turned to two, then three, then six. It wasn’t long before they realized that they had already found a good home for this felicitous feline. They decided to name her Dixie, tied a bow around her neck and never looked back.

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