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We all face challenges in our life and in facing these challenges we have to summon the fortitude to meet those challenges head on and sometimes even the courage.

I am currently being challenged by the Freeloader, or as the better, more cultured half of our household has named him — Angel. Freeloader/Angel, who I will affectionately call the Freeloader throughout the remainder of this column, came into our lives late last year when we noticed his gray and white self going by the house every so often. Enough so, that he earned his more heavenly moniker because of the small, white wing shape on his back.

I started calling him Freeloader because he’s now eating the food we buy for the monsters already taking up residence in our home — rent free I might add.

It’s fairly obvious he doesn’t belong to anyone in particular as he eats the food we leave out while taking furtive glances over his shoulder and in the house between mouthfuls and then leaves without so much as a “thank-you.”

The idea of perhaps getting a hold of him is more than a little obvious to us at this point, but the bleeding hearts that we are, we’re trying to take a more delicate route in winning him over.

Over the years, my family has been really good at bringing strays into the house, though admittedly they have been far more open to the idea than the Freeloader currently is.

When I was really young Tommy would come and go as he pleased and later Ghost moved into our house just by simply being an attention sponge.

Our own Nemi walked right up and decided that it would be us that she was going to permit to save her. Apparently, being hungry and cold was enough for her to make that decision or had some sort of inside knowledge that we would spoil her rotten.

Which we do. Both of them really.

But the Freeloader is something else entirely. He watches us through the window of our open door to ensure we don’t get too terribly close and as I’ve said already he checks the surrounding area constantly.

The hope is through considerable kindness we can maybe buy his piece of mind and lull him into thinking we’re not terribly bad people, and there have been some signs it might be working a little bit.

Freeloader doesn’t necessarily bolt past us anymore so much as he kind of trots past us and there will be times where he’s actually laid down within sight of me as I was doing other things in the yard.

Those are indications of comfort that weren’t there before, but still we have to look at the real possibility of just straight up trying to catch him with a live trap and see where we go from there.

We’re cat lovers enough that we don’t want to do something that will unnecessarily traumatize Freeloader, but at the same time we have started thinking along the lines that the longer we wait on this, the more chance there is that something will happen to him.

Not to mention the fact that if we can take another cat off the streets, as it were, that isn’t neutered then we can do our own small part in helping curb the overpopulation of cats in Austin.

Plus we get a free cat, even though when we brought Nemi in, our veterinarian handed her back over following a check-up with the bill and ironic statement, “enjoy your free cat.”

For the record, we have, but therein lies our other significant hurdle.

Buster and Nemi don’t see eye-to-eye on much. On anything really.

Buster plays too rough and then gets kind of mean and Nemi is dainty and frilly and wants nothing to do with his oafish self. Buster likes new people in the house, Nemi growls at people if they get too close on the sidewalk.

Nemi hisses at Buster if he looks at her crossly. It’s ridiculous really, but what has unified them is the extreme dislike for Freeloader.

We have more than a few pictures on our phones of the two of them staring Freeloader down through the glass menacingly. Nemi’s low growl and Buster’s stare daggers through Freeloader’s fur is second to none, which would be impressive if Nemi wouldn’t run for the hills if Freeloader walked in. Buster whines if you touch his tail.

Still, there is a real concern. Buster is getting old — even though he rarely acts like it — and I don’t want to introduce too much stress on Nemi’s life either, especially if we just don’t know what the Freeloader will be like even after we were to get him neutered.

All of that being said, I guess I wouldn’t be too surprised if we have a third animal in the house by the end of the year. Not saying it will happen for sure, just that I won’t be surprised.

The one thing I do know is I’m not calling him Angel.