Had a thought the other night (hahaaaa…rejoice! some of you said it couldn’t be done!) We can all list why we love our critters, be they dog or cat or bird or reptile.
Or spider, if you lean that way. Freak.
Yes, pets love unconditionally. They are innocent. They are goofy. They are our kids.
Wait, but are they? It made me think of my relationship with Spirit. I mean, I refer to myself as Mommy regarding him, and in that respect, I do clean up after him and feed him and buy him toys. But closer inspection, I think, shows almost a sibling thing going on.
He thinks I’m a really big, bald cat seriously lacking skills. In many ways, we’re equals.
We ninja each other. He lurks behind the recliner and sproings out for a surprise calf-grab. (Sometimes he gets up on his hind legs and he’s tall enough to nail my hips.) Or while I’m gaming (thereby neglecting him), I get the ankle-ninja-foot-bite. BUT….sometimes I want to hug him, so I scoop him up…and really, that’s just a reverse ninja. Or when I give him belly loves, or throw the blanket over him while he’s snooping through the covers on the bed. We’re treating each other exactly the same.
And like most pet owners, I talk to him. But you know what? He talks to me, too. Constantly. He is an endless ramble of chirps, purrs, mrows, and squeaks. Again: a couple of equals talking at each other. Like me, he probably wishes I could learn to talk so I’d make some sense to him.
I throw his toys for him. In fairness, he’s whipped a couple at me. I put things out of his reach; he gets up on the table and knocks things out of mine.
Look at your pets. I bet you’ll discover, too, that it’s not a parent-child thing so much as a brother-sister thing, maybe even a twin thing. Fraternal, of course. Isn’t it great?
azbaelus 