To Love An Animal

Loving an animal is a lot like loving a child. You raise them, feed them, train them, care for them, and more often than not, you grow to love them like one of your own. That’s why, when one of our cats was not here after returning home from our trip to FL yesterday, I became distraught.

When he didn’t show up all night, I became sick with worry. Had he frozen? Thought we had abandoned him? Gotten in a fight? Was he eaten by a coyote? Was he hit by a car? How will the kids handle the loss? How will I? Who can I blame this on? And on and on it went.

Well, the easiest part was the blame since my husband doesn’t like the cats to be in when we are gone. I, on the other hand, left the litter box ready and explicit directions with the neighbors to let them in at night and out during the day. Jeff, however, had called his friend to check on the cats in the latter part of the week and Jeff’s directions were to make sure they had food and water and to try and keep the cats OUT of the house. Why he feels strongly about this is beyond me. "I grew up on a farm", he tells me. "Cats are resilient . . . not to mention, a dime a dozen!" Oh, O.K., I threw that last one in, but he might as well have said it! (I'm pretty sure he’s thought it . . .)

So, the longer Rooster was gone, the madder I got at Jeff. Thinking, if God wanted to give us a good marital challenge as we headed into our 8th wedding anniversary this week, this was a good one. And if Rooster doesn’t come home, well, Jeff’s going to have one angry Mama on his hands for some time to come. Jeff’s been known to say, “If Mama’s not happy, ain’t nobody happy.” Well, get ready, I thought, because she’s about to come undone.

Now, I know the blame thing is extremely low on the developmental totem pole but I needed a target for my fear and anxiety. My husband was my bull’s eye. One of the many perks of marriage, I guess. Anyway, long story short. Jeff and I actually are going to get to celebrate our anniversary this week with hearts full of appropriate emotions because our beloved cat Rooster came home to roost at 11:05 a.m. Hungry and well, he ate a late breakfast and meowed a hello to all before looking for the closest unmade bed to settle down in.

Having all the beds made is one task I usually attempt to accomplish on good days. But today was just as good a day without the made bed. It had a friend in it and if he could have hung a “Do Not Disturb” sign next to him, I bet he would have. Our beloved cat’s home, we are all healthy and well as we move into the new year, and my anger at Jeff has abated.

Thank goodness the Rooster came home to roost.