One of my cats is a stray that was living in our yard at the time we moved into our house. My wife is fond of saying she spent two and a half years checking our references. :)
As for the other two, one was a shelter kitty which I got for my wife for our tenth wedding anniversary. The third is the last kitten that the former yard cat gave birth to (she was pregnant at the time we took her in).
Shelter kitty is pretty affectionate, but she does not care for sitting in a lap. She prefers being held on a shoulder, from which vantage point she will smother you in head bonks. Former yard cat, on the other hand, LOVES to be in your lap and will often hop into whichever lap is available. And when she wants to be loved, she will not be denied; in fact, she often will push her head under my hand if she doesn’t think I’ve given her enough attention.
Baby kitty also loves being in a lap, but she won’t always get there on her own. And she does NOT like to be picked up, even though she loves being petted.
They all have their own unique personalities-don’t they?
I don’t know what it is about cats that have been on their own for awhile and being carried around-Midget girl is okay with being picked up and carried a short distance, but if it goes on too long, she gets nervous and wants to be put down on her paws again-maybe it is a remnant of caution-she thinks one of the predators she was hiding from when she lived in the woods has somehow gotten ahold of her...