Long Story Short

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Hunter

Well, big shocker to follow: we got a kitten. And we didn't have to wait to bring him home like I thought we would. So Saturday afternoon went a little bit differently than I expected it to.

It was a HOT day, really steamy hot, and my apartment is in the attic of my building so it just traps the heat. Despite all the windows being open it was tough trying to get ready to go out after showering - every time I moved more beads of sweat would appear.

I ended up not drying my hair and putting on just pressed powder for makeup. I wore one of the pretty linen skirts from Banana Republic and a pink ribbon-tied shirt from Old Navy. I felt very pretty and summery.

The woman with the kittens called around 2 - and about a minute before she called I had just glanced at the clock and said "the woman with the kittens should call soon". And then the phone rang. We looked at each other like "WOW!" I made an appointment to be at her house around 3 and we were only a little bit late.

The kittens were soooo small. The pictures we had seen of them definitely made them look bigger, but we had no perspective really. They were all very cute, the first one I saw was the white one with grey ears and he was very shy. He backed right up when I went to pet him so I just left him alone.

The other three were climbing on the bookcase and were difficult to get out so Professor K and I ended up seated on the kitchen floor talking to the two women with the kittens. We didn't really get to hold all of them and check them all out. But they left us alone for a while and Kevin said he liked the white one best, and I agreed. The two black ones were cute but just "eh" where the white one was utterly adorable. Something about the way his ears were dark grey and his head a white cotton ball - combined with striking blue eyes, it was just too much cute.

The women were calling him "Panda" and they found him behind the couch and brought him to us. He went to Professor K and curled up on his hand, licking his thumb in the process. I think that clinched it for us - a sign that he was meant to be ours. So we said we'd take that one, they gave us a box and a bag of kitten chow to start us out, and we left.

I never in a million years had expected to leave there with a kitten, so I felt a little dazed. Probably it was the heat too, but I sat in the car kind of blank. I wasn't really thinking "we just got a kitten" I was more just holding the box and zoning out.

But Professor K was super excited - he had been excited all day. When I asked him earlier what he had wanted to do that day he said "look at kittens". I forgot that this is his first "adult" pet - his other pets have all been his family's pets.

He is still in that euphoric "new baby" phase, and I'm excited to see it. He loves to call himself "daddy" and I encourage him to spend lots of one-on-one time with the kitten since he will not get to see him as much as I will. I get mornings with the pets and late nights, after he leaves.

Bringing the kitten home we were asking "what are we going to call him?" because we had never really discussed names. We threw names around and then started joking, picking things from signs on buildings and street names. "Alewife" and "Fresh Pond" were rejected, as was "Ground Round" and "99". We dropped him off at home, putting him in the bathroom with fresh water, food, a blankey and a fan. Somehow Bailey managed to miss the fact that we brought a kitten into the house - she was just doing her usual "you're home!" jig.

We went to a pet store and bought the necessities. We brought it all home and set up a kitten area - I put up my 3 foot babygate and sectioned off the bathroom and hallway area for the kitten. He adjusted quickly, exploring things and falling asleep in the randomest places. It took until late that night before Bailey finally figured out why we kept disappearing into the bedroom and closing the doors.

I went into the bedroom to check on him at one point and he ran to me mewing his head off and Bailey heard it and started barking. They have not really been formally introduced yet, we want the kitten to get adjusted to us and his surroundings and hopefully he'll smell like us by then and Bailey will be less put-off.

We named him yesterday afternoon. We were throwing names around - we almost went with Emmett but I just didn't think it fit him. I liked it in theory, but once we were playing with him and I tried to call him that it didn't feel right. We kept suggesting names and finally started doing random historical figures and authors. I threw out "Hunter" after Hunter S. Thompson, the author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and we both liked that name. We were shooting for something that expressed how badass a kitty he is - fearless, curious, independent, but quiet and thoughtful as well.

So Hunter is both the name of an author I love and the creator of "Gonzo journalism", but it's a name that can also be taken literally. I like it, I've already gotten used to it. And it goes well with Bailey - I knew I didn't want it to be another "___-ey" name, like Carly and Bailey.

So far it has been an absolute blast. Hunter sleeps A LOT and is basically out and about for playtime for a maximum of four to five hours a day. Yesterday he woke me up early with tiny kitten mews and, just like a man, Professor K slept right through them. I teased him about that when he finally woke up and found me feeding and playing with Hunter.

Later on that afternoon he swore he heard him meow again and I said "no you didn't, that was the drill the neighbors are using" but he insisted, made fun of me for trying to "prove what a good mom I am", then went and checked and Hunter was sound asleep. HAHA. It's freaking true, women are just more in sync with their babies. Or at least some are. It's an instinct.

This morning was great. I got up really early so I would have time for Bailey and for Hunter too. I got up, took Bailey outside, and when I came back in the apartment Hunter was up and about, stumbling around on his sleepy baby legs. He saw me and immediately started purring so I rubbed him a bit, gently because he's so tiny, and then he trotted over to his box and did his business. I fed him and we played with his lamby and his mouse, and some old dry cleaning tissue paper that he really likes.

I took a shower and got ready and he learned a new trick while I was brushing my teeth - he can climb me. He climbed my leg up to my sweater and kind of hung from my back looking up at me. It was completely adorable and painful at the same time. He did it multiple times with glee (I think it was glee - it's hard to read his kitten face) and I kept pulling him off, giving him a kiss, and putting him back down on the floor.

The only thing that seemed to freak him out was the hair dryer. When I turned it on he gave me a very startled look, scuttled backwards toward the gate and Bailey, and sat there looking at me. And that was really a great moment because Bailey and Hunter were only about two feet apart, both giving me the same perplexed look - Bailey because she cannot figure out why we have a tiny ball of fur living behind her babygate, and Hunter because he apparently hasn't seen a hair dryer before. One set of shiny brown eyes, one set of shiny blue. It would have made a great picture.

My morning was nice - all the ladies in my office had to see pictures of him and a short video clip we have, and talk about his good looks. Some did the "oh my god, what were you thinking, he's going to tear up your furniture" thing. I just laughed. My furniture is 70's fabulous, hand-me-downs from family and friends.

I have the perfect set up for pets because I'm sort of a slob and I find it hard to get concerned about scratched furniture or pet mistakes on the carpet, or the piece of wall that my friend's dog tore off. These are just little incidents that make life more amusing.

My parents have this really uptight view on pets, I've noticed that a lot of people do. I was raised having to argue and argue and defend the need for a pet, overly promise to help out, and then ultimately we'd get one pet at a time and keep it until it died. So we had two pets while I was growing up - a cat named Tabby that was hit by a car two months after we moved to Maryland, and a dog named Sam that is somehow still clinging to life. She was purchased a few months after the cat died.

We had plenty of hamsters, guinea pigs, and fish - but do those really count as pets? I think something has to be fairly cuddly and be allowed to walk around freely in your house before you consider it a real pet.

Anyway, I was raised thinking that was the only way you could be with pets. When I was in college I was very pragmatic - NO PETS! Not until I'm fully self-sufficient, working full time, living on my own, blah blah blah. And then my ex wanted to get a cat, she cried, so I figured it would be fun to have a pet that I wouldn't be fully responsible for, and that would live with her after college. And then it suddenly occurred to me that if I wanted to get a dog at any point in my 20's, college was the best time to do it because I had the most free time to spend with a puppy, train it, love it. So I got Bailey second semester senior year and had five months to devote to her childhood. Once I started my first full time job we were still staying with my Mom and Dad for another two months, so she got seven months where she didn't have to be by herself while I was at work. I was pretty happy about that.

Since then my whole attitude about pets has changed. If you have the love to give, you know you're responsible enough to put the animal's needs ahead of yours, and you can afford it, why not get as many pets as you want? I know some people just don't have the patience, or don't really think about the long-term commitment, or just want a cute fuzzy thing and then lose interest...but that's not me. I incorporate each animal into my life, recognizing its needs and personality just as much as I do my own - they become like tiny children, I can almost hear their voices in my head. No I'm not crazy, I just love having animals to share my life with.

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I just had a lovely exchange with the ex. We had a nice talk on Friday - I called her after work and we had our first live discussion in a while. It went well. So she emailed me today and I wrote back right away, and sent her pics of the kitten. She told me he was the cutest kitten in the world and that's exactly what I wanted to hear, so I'm very happy. We're all hunky-dory friends again. I guess that's alright for now. I'm so wishy washy about the whole relationship it embarrasses me, so I'm not going to talk about that anymore.

Professor K and I are great - my fog of doubt has lifted, just like my horoscope predicted. Somehow it just went away. I realize that there are going to be times when he annoys me, or when I need space, and I just have to deal with those occasions as they come. I can't expect every day to be roses and sunshine, that's ridiculous. Nor do I have to take any negative moments or feelings as proof that the relationship is doomed. I'm trying to give myself some slack, I haven't been in a new relationship in a long time. But now we're nesting comfortably, as my boss says, so I figure things are perfect for now.

11:24 a.m. - 2004-05-17

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