Who Is This Creature That Lives in My House?

So I woke up the other morning by myself.

Or so I thought.

Amanda left early for work and I got to sleep in. I spent my twenty minutes of waking up with a fuzzy grey feline sitting on my chest. I pulled my hand out from under the sheets and held it toward her to sniff. She approves and pushes her mouth across my knuckle. She begins to purr, leans close to my face and licks my nose. I am becoming aware that she is waiting on her breakfast.

Who is this creature that lives in my house? This four legged beast, clothed completely in fur and armed with sharp teeth and claws, sits on my chest in the morning as if this is normal. The funny thing is that it's so normal that I rarely step back to take it in. I share the apartment with an entirely different species. This creature cannot speak English, nor will she ever. For the rest of her life, she will depend on me to feed her and clean up her waste. What was I thinking? Why do we do this?



Amanda was becoming convinced that our cat, Madison, was out to destroy Christmas. Our small but well decorated Christmas tree was knocked from its table within twenty four hours of being erected. We came into the room to find our poor tree and all it's trimings strewn across our living room. The gray criminal let out a pitiful meow and hung her head as if to say she was sorry. Of course she was forgiven, but she continued to knock off our shiny ornaments and kick the across the room like a soccer ball. Eventually they would shatter against a wall. She chews too. Weird huh? She doesn't really use her claws, but she chews like crazy. Our new sheets now look like swiss cheese as well as some of our favorite clothes.

We, like millions of pet owners, aren't sure why we signed up for this. Moreover, we aren't sure why she makes us so happy. Maybe it's those morning moments, or when she purrs endlessly, or maybe because she's incredibly cute. Or maybe it's because we know-that in her own way-she returns the unconditional love that we give her.

Tomorrow, I face another appointment as I wake up. There will be hair everywhere and cat saliva on my knuckles. Strangely enough, it'll be a good morning.