cats... social pariah or blessings in disquise

our cats being helpful

Met some friends yesterday evening for supper. Then we came back to our house for coffee and dessert... and talk. We don't do this very often because of the cats. Sounds sad, but we've learned over the years that there are a lot of people out there that are either allergic or simply don't like (or believe it or not, are afraid) of cats. Years ago when we lived in another neighborhood, one of our neighbors was so allergic that he sneezed constantly when visiting, and another was scared of all critters...

So outside of our close friends (who love cats) as well as family members, we usually plan to meet others at a restaurant or whatever rather than invite them into our home.  However, these particular people are old friends that I grew up with as well as went to college with. We just haven't seen them often over the years. They recently moved here and hopefully we will be able to incorporate each other back into our lives. So we did the "halfway thing"... we met them at a restaurant first, then invited them back to the house after.  We did lock the cats up in our bedroom before we left so our friends wouldn't be overwhelmed (at least on this first visit). Three of our 5 cats are very people-friendly and would think nothing of jumping into someone's lap (this is what would scare the bejeebees out of our critter-scary neighbor). But... after all, it is their house, right?

They (our cats) know that we kind of build our life around them (sort of like child proofing). We replaced the carpet with cat-friendly slate and ceramic tile (easily steam cleaned).  We use a strange heavy centerpiece for our front room table in order to keep the tablecloth on when flying cats zoom across it chasing one another. We keep a sheet over our master bed quilt to keep the amount of hair down, and we never leave out breakables close to the end of anything because Julie likes to bat them off... etc., etc.

Such is life with cats. We've accepted this. It makes for a more harmonious life. But we do sacrifice some things. That's the way it is. I can't have a beautiful arrangement of real flowers out as the cats would eat them. I can't set a china and crystal table and expect it not to be inspected by many tiny free-flying paws. So we don't put out flowers and we only have special table settings on Thanksgiving and Christmas (and the cats are sent to the master bedroom to await until the danger is past - but they are duly rewarded with ample samples of turkey and the like after).

And like with kids (and grandkids), DH and I wouldn't find life quite the same without them. They make a mess sometimes (both kids and cats), but on the whole, they make you smile a whole lot more. So... perhaps the small sacrifices are worth it in the end. We think so.

Tux and Ghost cozying up
 

Please let me sleep...

me too...