Yesterday I dropped Mojo off at a shelter. It had nothing to do with the fact that this weekend Penny started teething full-on. Ok, it might have. But really I have been jonesing to find him a new home for about six months now.
I cried like a baby when I dropped him off, which the lovely lady working that miserable job was quite sensitive to. This was the epitome of logical decisions, something I am infamous for rarely making, and at the very end my impulsive, emotional side wanted to snatch him back and drive home with him coddled in my arms. But I didn’t. I just drove home crying, and drowning my sorrows in an iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts (they never taste as good down here) which I ordered via the drive-in window with my sunglasses hiding my tear-streaked face.
I gave him a home for the past seven years until our love/hate relationship eventually soured to the point where he needed a new forever home. For the first few years I was fine cleaning up after him daily, but then we got a dog that was actually more low-maintenance than our cat, and I started to reconsider his place in our family. And then we had a baby. No matter how hard I tried she still shoved chunks of cat fur into her gullet every day, and I dreaded the day she learned to crawl.
I have lived 28 years and only four of them were lived without a cat. Ok, a few more than that, but only four where I actually had to clean up after myself. And it was in college, during which I was certainly not very tidy. Yesterday and today I have been scouring our home cleaning up the cat fur from every imaginable surface, and reveling in the thought that in the future I will merely be cleaning up dust… not clingy white fur. I can wear black again. I can sleep at night without a ball between my ankles. I can stumble to the bathroom in the middle of the night without stepping on a fresh, wet hairball.
In other words… I could get used to a cat-less existance.
If I can ever get over my guilt.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, my daughter isn’t sleeping for the second week in a row! Last week it was constipation, this week it’s teething. She is so miserable, and my heart breaks for her. Orajel doesn’t seem to do anything since I’m guessing the pain is deep in her gums. So last night I started her on infant Tylenol and some homeopathic thing which is like The! Best! Thing! Ever!!!! And we both got a little bit of sleep. The timing of it all, in the midst of holiday fun and business, is really almost comical, and I keep telling myself that if this stress continues much longer the inevitable upswing is gonna rock my face off. I mean, eventually things are going to get So! SO! GOOD! Right!?
Post cut short. She’s crying, and I’ve gotta go.
December 7th, 2010 at 5:11 pm
i hope that you left a message at the shelter that he only responds to the name ‘phillipe.’
December 7th, 2010 at 6:05 pm
So what is the best thing ever? We use infant Tylenol and orajel. Tylenol is a miracle drug. However, I didn’t get much sleep last night because my child is obsessed with rolling over and sleeping on her stomach now because she can. This causes her congestion to get worse and wakes her up. Fun times. So she sleeps in the swing and upright and mommy sleeps right next to her on the couch as Sprout lulls us to sleep. I never knew Nina and Star were so interesting (not really; but to a small child they are).
December 7th, 2010 at 6:08 pm
P.S. We are considering giving away our dogs to someone who can give them the attention and care they need and deserve. If we can’t find someone suitable, then we will take them to the shelter. I really don’t want to give them away, but with a baby, we don’t have the time, energy or resources to do everything we used to do with them. It’s sad but our baby comes first. So, I can completely sympathize with you.
December 7th, 2010 at 6:11 pm
I didn’t think orajel worked, either. I held off on the tylenol unitl I thought about how I felt the last month of my sopohomore fall semester with my wisdom teeth impacted . . . constant OW. So I readily dosed them up after that. The teeth have to move through bone and gum. What is the homeopathic thing? whiskey? ah ha ha ha ha. I crack myself up.
Your relief that after cleaning the cat hair, it’ll remain clean, is palpable. But the guilt will always eat you. Not that I know. I’m allergic to most cats.