The first half of 2014 has been a time of great change in my static, little world.
Not like that’s a bad thing.
Change can be good.
Force you to grow, to adapt.
But it is so hard.
First, my evil-sweet tabby cat passed away in April. Didn’t expect it. He was only nine and feisty, an illness took him quickly. Soon after,my oldest child decided to move out. I expected this. She’s old enough and smart enough and fully capable of making a living.
But it’s sad and changes the dynamics of my day. Everything shifted. No more kitty cuddle breaks and no more crazy antics or quirky eating habits (he ate lasagna-really? I thought only Garfield did that).
The loss of my daughter left another kind of hole. No witty batter in the morning, no one to run out for Chinese late night, no one to force me to watch things like Sleepy Hollow, which I now adore.
Two sources of my daily zap of fun, entertainment, and love–gone.
After grieving over my losses, I hatched a plan.
What better to heal a handicapped heart than a new kitten? My youngest and I took our time. We visited the humane society, checked Facebook posts, asked friends. At last, we found a cache of seven that were a few weeks old and litter trained. We visited. They all were adorable but one little girl stood out with her black kohl eyeliner, stealth attacks and kamikaze escape techniques. She was a tiny BA warrior and we were smitten.
Then a strange thing happen, a little white and gray boy snuggled up to us. He looked like a white Pikachu from the Pokémon anime. Never have I seen a kitten so forcefully affectionate. And the eye contact he made—crazy. So instead of one, we came home with two.
New litter boxes, and toys, and names. We reviewed all the couple names, Donny and Marie, River and Simon, Zan and Jana (Wonder Twin powers activate), even Jamie and Cersi. But in the end we each picked one.
Meet (names subject to change):
Oliver
and
Petunia
Petunia (aka Toonces the cat who could drive from the 80’s SNL skit).
So it’s been all fun and games right?
Not so much. You forget how hard it is to teach new pet not to chew on cords or climb drapes or massacre furniture. It’s been an adjustment. They are learning. We are learning too.
It is forcing, pulling, pushing, enlivening me to grow and keep my heart open, cause in the end, not all change is bad.
Yin Yang
