Before we start, an update on our favorite kitten Sugar: she has been adopted! Yay!
Now for the meat:
Today I enjoyed in a guilty pleasure of mine- I went to Petco to look at the cats who are up for adoption.
I call this a guilty pleasure because I know I can't adopt another cat right now, and I know Jonathan doesn't really want to adopt a third cat ever. I also feel a little guilty doing it because most of the time, I don't even buy anything at the Petco- I just walk in, talk to the cats like a crazy person for about ten minutes, and then I walk out.
And when I walk out, I have a feeling that I only get when spending time with cats- a feeling of such deep love that it makes me want to cry, it makes me feel like I might explode from the intensity of it. That's how much I love cats.
This past week I've been feeling a little overwhelmed, so a disproportionate amount of my free time has been spent curled up on my bed, holding my two cats in my arms. I doze, and I let the love overwhelm me, I let the softness and the sweet smell of their fur overtake me, and I am soothed, and the world is good again. That's how much I love cats.
This is a weekly (sort of, not at all, I have permanently abandoned this deadline), love letter to cats: to my cats specifically, but also to all cats in the world. Even the meanest, most skittish cats, I still believe are beautiful, sweet creatures with a huge capacity for love and an ancient wisdom we can't even begin to understand.
Yep. That's how much I love cats.
I think most people who define themselves as "cat people" will understand my depth of feeling on this matter- I find there are very few people who "kind of like" cats or who think cats are "ok"- most people either LOVE cats, or, unfortunately more often, hate cats. And people who hate cats tend to display and feel this hatred with the same intensity with which I feel love for cats.
So this is also a letter to all of you cat-haters, who love to tell us how cats are all "dicks" and "assholes." It is a letter asking you to consider being more empathetic toward us cat lovers' passion for our pets. Let me draw a parallel to help explain what I am asking: Let's say you love...oh, I don't know...dogs. You have a dog, you're obsessed with your sweet, cute dog...So what if you told me, I have a dog and I love him, and I love dogs so much and they make me so happy, and I said back to you, oh, I fucking hate dogs. Fuck dogs. They are so mean and shitty. That wouldn't feel great, would it? And this is a hypothetical situation, because hardly anyone in this world hates dogs, and certainly dog lovers and owners don't hear this response when they profess said love for dogs as much as cat lovers and owners do.
To all my cat-hating friends, I'm not asking you to love cats as much I do, or even at all- but it would be nice if you could respect my love for the cats who keep me sane, who give me joy in this world when it seems nothing else will.
Oh yeah. Here are some pictures of my cats. And my mom's cats.
