Crazy Cat Lady Loading in 5 - 4 - 3 ...
On a particularly sad day, my health issues make me lethargic and make me feel like I'm missing out on 'life', my husband asked me what would make me happy. I know that professional fulfillment is one of the things that make me happy but it's nothing that can be forced and I can only continue to pursue it as much as possible. I tried to remember if there was one thing, one event, one life stage that made me particularly happy. And the answer was: my dog Jake who was by my side for 4 years in California. Animals make me happy.
For the past two years, we have sometimes walked dogs at a shelter on Sunday afternoons. It feels good but it is certainly not the same as having your own pet that you share a special bond with. It was out of the question for us to get a dog due to our lifestyle and apartment regulations, so I went against all my deep-seeded loyalty for dogs and started looking at... cats. I didn't want just any cat, I wanted a cat that fit our lifestyle, was not a kitten anymore and only a rescue cat #adoptdontshop.
I started liking any and all shelter Facebook pages of shelters in the area. One morning, I was browsing my Facebook feed and came across an appeal for help from a woman who wanted to find a home for her gorgeous red Maine Coon cat because she was beating up the other cat - a feisty feline. Call me superficial but her looks lured me in - not only is she stunning, her red coat also reminded me of my Golden Retriever Jake. After reading her personal ad, she also seemed to perfectly fit our lifestyle: loves to cuddle, already housebroken, enjoys time to herself. The fact that she as Austrian by birth and American by heritage just seemed like a sign.
So we contact the shelter and later the owner. After several emails and phone calls, we met her. I petted her and she immediately rolled over for me to rub her belly. There it was again: that feeling of happiness. We hit it off right away. A few days and a surprisingly expensive trip to the pet store later, we got to take her home. She spent most of the first day under furniture mad at us for making her ride in a box in the car. However, by the end of the day, she was sleeping on the couch and enjoying endless belly rubs. When she used the litter box, my husband and I high-fived each other and when she sleeps we whisper in order not to wake her up. I guess there is something to it that cat people are referred to as crazy... #crazycatladyloadingin543...
Day two was full of love, cuddles and playtime, however, it ended with a hairball on my side of the bed at 2 AM. I tried to be mad but I can't be mad at that furry love ball. I'm slightly jealous because she seems to love my husband a bit more than me - they nap together; she enjoys playing with him more, she doesn't spit up hairballs on his side of the bed - but I'm trying not to show it... *sigh*
We've had a week of fun with our new four-legged family member and this feeling of happiness I felt with Jake I now also feel with Cookie. I named her after a dog of one of the Real Housewives of New York. I just thought that Cookie was the cutest name ever! Plus, my husband vetoed all my other suggestions (Catniss, Scarlet, Ruby, Cinnamon - the list was a full page long).
Cookie is everything I want in a furry companion: she lays down next to me when I sit on the couch to watch TV, she sleeps next to my laptop when I work on my writing - after walking over the laptop, of course - she settles in on the foot of our bed at night time and wakes us up with a friendly-to-mildly-pushy meow in the morning. Pets are a wonderful addition to a human's life and can make a bad day disappear with one slight tilt of the head.
Meet Cookie!
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