Cats
She was aghast.
It was only at that point - in the context of the present, and her response - that I was reminded of the positive changes my life has taken, the courses righted, the opportunities I've been given. The Why of the What I do.
When I came home from work today, I had that same feeling. The two recently adopted cats were snuggled up to each other on the front porch and looking cute. I took their picture.
They had been the source of much acrimony in our house. Their mama had been found having a litter under our house and the rest of the household adopted them over my Cat-5 storming. I threw my sucker in the dirt and it wasn't pretty.
I've never been an animal lover, quite the opposite actually. That comes from my New Jersey days. The animals I was used to were vectors, things to be feared or hated. That included cats and dogs and anything else. They were mean because we were mean to them in ways that now shock me to the core.
It's been a long barometric process. I eventually learned to love dogs. But cats? Cats I've hated with a passion. Besides the new cats we also had two other cats.
The first of the two showed up at my office door. I tried to chase it away but it wouldn't go. As I was leaving, I saw it hiding under a car. I tried to ignore it. "It's going to get hit by a car." "Not my problem." I made the block, stopped, and put it in my car.
I got home and the kids, who had heard my "positively no goddamn cats in this house" rule, were shocked. Somehow that was taken as permission to have cats. We soon had another.
So, today, as I came home from work, there they were
I had been shooing them away, being brusque with them, hoping that they would find another home or just go away. But these cats have known nothing but love for the last two or three months of their life. They've been sheltered and pampered and the only world they know is love.
As it should be.
