This was Sinatra’s first snow.
It made him jump and dig and run back and forth.
It got on his paws and it licks off strangely.
It doesn’t smell like the front courtyard should smell.
In places, it’s like the marble floor in the entryway — you slip and can’t get good traction when you make a fast turn.
Great fun, but even in a fur coat, it’s cold and he wants inside NOW.
Once inside, a purrfest follows the obligatory bite to eat.
C’mon, dad, pet my furry face and I’ll put my bad breath right up to your nose.
Look! It’s the little blue circle thing from the milk bottle that didn’t quite make it to the trash! NEW TOY!!!
Is that Sinatra on the CD player?
I’ll play in the living room with the blue circle thing while you build a fire.
Can you read Umberto Eco while I sit on the book?
C’mon, dad, pet my furry face and I’ll put my bad breath right up to your mouth and nose. Little kisses, you know. You give ME little kisses and YOUR breath stinks of cigarets, so it’s a fair deal.
Great! Naptime on the couch in front of the fireplace. I LOVE naps.
Is it time to eat?
Pet my furry face. Now my tail. Now my belly.
The buttons on your shirt got wild and had to be tamed by a master feline.
NOW is it time to eat?
Why do you continue to sweep up the cat litter I’ve taken such care to put on the bathroom floor? Here, I’ll fix that. Good. A nice spread of traction on the linoleum. Don’t clean that up again, I’m tired of having to scratch out litter every time you get a hair up your ass.
Now pet my furry face. Kiss me.
Good boy.
Now it’s time to eat.
See these bowls?
Hey, see these bowls?
Hey, see these bowls?
Hey, see these bowls?
I’m going to bite your ankle.
Look at the damn bowls!
I’ll untie your shoe, that’ll make you feed me.
LOOK AT THE DAMN BOWL
OK.
Now pet my furry face.
Let’s get another nap, dad.
No?
Just me, then.
Don’t mess with me.
Pet your own furry face, human.
I’m taking a nap.
Let me know when it’s time to eat.
Yawn.
Later.
Yep.
yeppers, at least you have only one…at our house of 6 we also have what we fondly call kitty frenzy…..no one is safe when they are on the run.
RJ
At our home we have the gang of puppies who whine and growl and bark at odd hours of the day to keep us company. Perhaps the real purpose is to keep us all insane. Yet it’s tempered by the moments of holding a warm wiggly puppy who falls asleep in your lap after licking your chin with wiggling tails (the ones that have them that is!).
When 3am arrives and the mum has somehow decided to check on her puppies who attack her teats with sharp teeth that make her yelp I wonder “what the!” when I awaken. Groggy, alone yet again in bed yearning for deep sleep, that never ending quest of my life. I confess in those lonely early hours of the morning…why oh why did I bring this dog home with me? Perhaps it is the perfect substitute for a “soulmate”. Perhaps it is more satisfying to be met at the door with the wagging and whining “I missed you! I’m glad your home!” response instead of “why are you so late again?”
I think all the time about this quest for ‘true love’ and ‘soulmates’. I find for myself that it seems we as humans have lost the ability to “mate” for life. Is this an instinct that has died out in our species? Has sex and love just become recreation now? It’s a “sport” this quest. This tires me deeply within my spirit, my heart. Instinctually that I am incapable of mere fucking, I ‘mate’.
What happens when we find someone that we can ‘mate’ with? Is this the ‘something that people search for all their lives’? That deep, electric connection where you feel each other’s breath even when you are not together? The intensity when intimate is overwhelming, scarey and this seems to cause the “I’m not ready for this kind of relationship” reaction….Fight or Flight response? run ,run, baby run fast and hard as you can and don’t look back, you just might find something worth keeping and held precious in your arms. For God’s sake! RUN!!
When you love your pet, you are the only one with control issues and so it works out in your favor every time. That makes it much easier to love Sinatra than for me to relate to an actual human being. Sinatra doesn’t always like everything I do — he hates it that I smoke — but he never makes remarks about my basic character, he never tries to pull me down and he never threatens to leave me if he doesn’t get his way. He’s also forgiving. No matter what I do, in a little while Sinatra is back in my lap asking for affection and ready to snuggle up for a nap.
Is that really the relationship I want with a mate?
It’s scary to think that the problem with mating may be a problem with ME. That I’m not hoping for a real human being, but a puppy or kitten who will do what I want when I want without complaint and, by the way, have sex with me exclusively as well.
Then, put the shoe on the other foot. Isn’t part of the problem also that the women in my life would also kind of like me to be a puppy who will love unconditionally, no matter how late she comes in and how rarely she feeds or pets me? Who wants me to hang around and love her even when she bats me across the nose with a rolled up newspaper? And, of course, be seductive and marvelous in bed on command and/or stay uncomplaining in the other room when she wants to be Gretta Garbo and wants to be alone? I’ve felt as if there were relationships where the question was not whether I was loveable, but trainable.
I don’t know the answers. If I did know the answers, I’m sure I’d be in a “soulmate” relationship and I’m obviously not. If you run across any part of the answers, I’d sure like to hear about it.
For someone who has had a coupla soulmates and recently lost one…I feel great that my Kato Kitty is still around and acting more “kittyish” than ever…I feel sad that my Kato has lasted longer than my husband…but we had some great times. It was akward at first when my husband met my Kato…they both wandered the house spitting “kuh” at each other for a month or so….Egotesticle translation: “I am the Alpha, No, I am the Alpha”…..they both decided to be the Alphas together and have me serve them….worked out….both of them are and continue to be known as “Doteworthy”…..kinda like “Spongeworthy” but definately more loving…hee hee….having read your post I am reminded of that awful movie with Sandra Dee and Bobby Darrin where she gets this book about training your dog to use on him….and he discovers it….she gets it from Mom of course….I also love Gertrude Stein as she lay dying her last words were..”What was the question?”