ESnet holds the distinction of receiving ARIN’s first production IPv6 allocation, but being an “early adopter” is not a single act -- it is a series of reinventions. In the networking world, protocols are often declared dead before they truly begin. Like a cat, IPv6 has had to survive several “lives” to reach the maturity we see today. Leading this transition hasn’t been about simple mandates; it has been about guiding a community of independent, brilliant “cats” toward a better architectural future. We’ll explore how to build a network fabric where IPv6 is the primary language of discovery, free from a 32-bit mindset.