LOVE THURSDAY
Cindy Maddera
"Albus is enjoying some TV time."
I am not a cat person. I've always slightly clashed with their indifferent attitudes and the way they love you one minute and then want to claw your face off the next. Then Michael fed a little white kitten a can of sardines and the next thing you know, we're owners of a white cat who is for the most part indifferent to our existence. He's very loving when his food bowl is low. Other than that, we rarely see him. He prefers to hang out in the basement or on a shelf in the garage that is just out of Josephine's reach. In the evenings he will come into the dinning room and sit or lay behind a piece of furniture with only a paw or tail visible for taunting Josephine (do you see a theme?). We originally had named him Albadine because it rhymed with sardines and Josephine, but when we realized she was a he, we adjusted the name to Albus. He may or may not recognize this as his name because most of the time I just call him "cat" as if I were Holly Golightly.
Albus has access to outside, but I've never seen him venture out further than the back step and garden area until recently. He's been hanging out in the front yard lately. I think Michael and I are just waiting for the day Albus decides we aren't his people after all and steps out into the world never to be seen again. He sticks around because we feed him. This weekend we put two bowls full of food out and plenty of water and left Albus all on his own. The benefit of having a cat. They seem to take care of themselves. I figured he wouldn't really miss us and might even enjoy a break from the dog. So I was not prepared for the onslaught of love that greeted us when we came home Monday evening. Albus rubbed his head on my shins. He has rubbed his whole body up the full length of Josephine and I am sure Michael has received the same treatment. Albus actually jumped up on the couch to touch his nose to my face before walking over to do the same to Michael. That's the first time he has ever climbed up into my lap.
I figured once I filled his almost empty food bowl up, he'd chill out, but nope. He runs figure eights around my legs as I move through the house in the mornings. Josephine has a habit of grabbing one of her toys and hanging out behind me on the bathroom mat as I get ready and now both of them are in there. Albus prefers the toilet seat lid or the lip of the bathtub or even flattening himself out on the middle shelf of our bathroom trash can/organizer. I guess you can say that our absence has made his heart grow fonder. Which is sweet. It's made my heart soften a bit towards that darn cat. We might just be unofficial cat people after all.
Happy Love Thursday!