Mariposa Kisses (aka Dianne's Blog)

Cats sleep well beyond the average animal in their kingdom. Do you have a cat? Then you know exactly what I mean. My cat gets so relaxed; you’d seriously think he was dead. In fact, one time, I did mistake him for dead. One day (not an unusual occurrence) my cat Sage was fast asleeeeeeeeep in my daughter’s crib. I was so convinced that he was dead, I even started to get teary-eyed. I thought, “I guess that’s it, he’s dead.” I poked and prodded him and he didn’t budge. He finally made a sharp motion that convinced me rigor mortis was kicking in. In actuality, Sage was just “dead” asleep. Isn’t twenty three hours of sleep per day a bit excessive? Okay, maybe it’s only like twenty one hours per day, but still… that’s quite a bit. Additionally, my cat can seriously saw some logs while he’s sleeping. You’ll be alone in the house and hear a noise that makes you think, “My gosh, someone’s in the house” and then you realize, “No, it’s just the cat snoring up a storm of thunderous Zs.”

My cat has an excessive way of being affectionate, which is a nice term for incredibly annoying. Don’t get me wrong, I looooooooooove cats, especially my cat. Nevertheless, when I sit down at my computer, I do actually desire to get something accomplished. My cat, however, does not understand this. Within seconds, I am attacked by my cat’s incessant plea to pet him while on top of the mouse pad or in front of the monitor. This is the same cat that jumps on the bed to lie on top of me or my husband the instant one of us gives evidence of wakefulness in the morning. This is particularly annoying when we are merely trying to change sides or get a sip of water but would like to retain our current REM cycle.

Another eccentricity about my cat is his need to paw on the doors as if he were an Olympic freestyle swimmer. It’s his way of communicating to us that he’d like to come into the bathroom while we’re in there doing our business. Or, he lets us know he’d like to wander outside the house while we’re enjoying a quiet retreat on the back patio. At least his swimming workouts get the blood pumping… but not when we’re already blissfully relaxed under the covers in bed. Even though the door is adequately cracked open, Sage shuts the door on himself and then starts thrashing around as if he were being attacked by a predator.

Now the hair is something else to be reckoned with. Is the hair alone such a big deal? Even though it covers the entire house, including most of our clothes? No, this alone isn’t immensely problematic…but the hairballs, yes, quite honestly, those I could do without. How can a few blades of grass cause our cat to puke within second of re-entering the house? It’s absolutely mind-boggling. And, it’s completely irritating when the cat manages to vomit on one small part of our recently washed duvet cover. Once again our room is going to look like Big Bird danced the salsa as I retrieve the down comforter.

Now, could I do without my cat, in spite of his quirky disposition and his plethora of idiosyncrasies? Definitely not…because he is the one who lies by my side when I’m feeling blue. He meows at me each morning to greet me into a new day, reminding me that I’m never alone. He lies in my kids’ beds keeping them nice and toasty throughout the day. His frequent coma-like state does inspire me to take a nap on occasion. And he definitely makes our house feel like a home; is a house really a home without a cat present? Furthermore, our cat is a really good sport; he puts up with consistent tackles from our preschooler and unremitting hair removal from our toddler. Though our cat has slid substantially lower on the totem pole, he is and always will be a valued member of our family.