Barring anything catastrophic (p’tui, p’tui), I have achieved my goal of traveling absolutely nowhere during the month of March. That makes this the longest consecutive period I have been home since mid-December 2013. As much as it has been nice to be home, it will only last until mid-April when I travel back east for Passover. I can hear my father in the back of my head commenting on the use of the term “back east.” Figures I wouldn’t get away with letting that one slide.
I also think my cat is now channeling my father. When I was a kid, my father used to wake me up for school by ripping the blankets off of me. If that didn’t work, he would start clapping. Let me assure you that there are few things more annoying than being woken up by clapping. It is making me cringe just writing about it.
In the 4 years we have had our cat, Dancer, I can count the number of times he has come up on the bed on one hand. But this week something changed. Now, if I am not up by 7:15, Dancer jumps on the bed and starts nudging the blankets off me with his head. I am fairly confident that if he could figure out how, he would also start clapping to get me up. And all of this effort is just so I will sit on the couch and give him a lap to sleep on.
Being the ridiculous cat person I am, I am taking Dancer’s new behavior as a sign of love and affection. That maybe he really did miss me when I was gone for so long. David then reminds me that Dancer is just doing it so he can get his human to do his bidding. I agree with David’s assessment of the situation but the fact remains I have been Dancer’s human for years now and this is a new behavior.
There may come a time when I want to sleep in and the behavior that I now find endearing will become obnoxious. But that time is not now and I am going to enjoy it while I can.