Cats to the Rescue

Every family needs a scapegoat. In our family, it's the young cat with a freakishly long wiener-dog body named Blackjack who gets blamed for rips in the leather couch, upturned lamps and missing pillows. When I say blamed, I mean we find him hiding under a box or bedframe and tell him how cute he looks, and how adorable we find his home-wrecking habits. The older, more responsible cat, Rex, looks on with barely concealed hurt and disdain.  He's thinking "I bring them socks all day long, come whenever I'm called, and only dig my claws into the cat tree. This is how I'm repaid?"

And you see that I have become a cat person against all odds and probabilities.  I feel guilty sometimes that we don't give all of our extra money to charity instead of to PetCo /PetSmart for the cats' dry food, wet food, litter, toys, etc., but our family couldn't exist without the laughter, distraction and daily reminders to be present that Rex and Jack provide.

Just tonight, our youngest son wandered by the kitchen counter where we store and recharge all of our electronic devices. They inhabit a good two-foot length of granite countertop and light up periodically as news alerts and calendar reminders fight to be recognized. Daniel saw his father's phone light up with a CNN headline about our president's threat to use force against North Korea and instantly his anxious little mind spun off into scenarios of nuclear war, bombs, and annihilation. Not what I had hoped for our Thursday evening.

But then the little cat ran by, skidded on the hall rug, crashed into a moving box and galloped upstairs. In the commotion I shouted for Daniel to go see if the cat was OK, while I pocketed the phone and redirected all of the kids' attention to the stockpile of William's socks that Rex had collected that day, and the new secret hiding place of our scapegoat, under our bed near Rob's slippers.

Stockpiles of socks, not weapons. Secret hiding places of cats instead of terrorists. Laughter as opposed to spiraling anxiety.  I think the animals are worth it - we'll just donate a little more to human causes in their name.