I think there is something wrong with my cat.
Don't worry! He's purrrfectly healthy and seems fine to the untrained eye. What I've noticed is that his behaviour has changed (ever-so-slightly). For the last two nights, he slept with me for what seemed like the entire night, both times. Each time I would get up to pee (which is fairly often theses days), he would come and snuggle or sit by my feet.
For most cat owners, this would seem like a lovely sign of kitty-cat affection. For me, this is strange.
As many of you know, Marley is not a nice cat by any stretch of the imagination. He bites and swipes. He also is known for chomping at both my and Alex's feet while we sleep. Marley is not an affectionate cat. He is a terror who believes that he is king of his domain and that his human, Alex, was put on this Earth to play and snuggle with him exclusively. I'm not his human. In fact, I'm his roommate. Sure we get along and often times I make sure that he has some food to eat; we chat too, but overall, my cat and I have a business relationship. I give food; he doesn't bite me. A win-win!
Having a business relationship with anything is pretty great. There are clear boundaries and no one gets hurt (literally with chomp marks or a smack on the head).
The only problem with a business relationship is when one party of the relationship decides to change it up. In this scenario, Marley has made the executive decision to take our relationship to the next level. I have been followed around the house constantly, slept on, and begged to be picked up (with howling cries).
Looking at this as strictly business, I would be wise to ignore these cat-passes and carry on. Instead, I have sent in a formal complain to the HR department of our residence, Alex. Like many HR departments, unless I'm filing a sexual harassment complaint, this complaint will go both unheard and ignored. Alex actually thinks that Marley's newfound affection for me is nice. I would too if Marley wasn't MY CAT. I'm on to him. He knows something I don't.
Last night, I was training with Sam (my friend and Alex's cousin), when I explained Marley's strange behaviour to her. She mentioned that animals often have senses that we can't detect and that maybe Marley knows that I'm going to have this baby soon. Good! Finally! Wait...uh oh!
'Peanut' isn't due for another four weeks and I have a few things to do before that (not a lot of things, mind you but a few things). One of those things is to move Marley to my Parents' house. If Marley can sense the approaching labour and delivery, maybe I want him around for a while longer? Do I believe that Marley can sense that? Should I pack my hospital bag and get my birth plan printed? Is the NBA lock-out going to last much longer? (Important questions that I should ask my cat).
In a previous post I wrote about my clairvoyance symptom of pregnancy. It would really come in handy now (that's for sure). It works for others but I have yet to experience the benefits for myself. Understanding Marley shouldn't be something worth looking into. He is just a cat after all. I could get him into one of those hamster balls and have a cat-ball that may be able to tell me the future when I look into it; but I suspect that if I did that, my future would be full of chomps, swipes, and angry meows (once he was freed from his captive magic ball of course).
As for me, the excitement of being a new parent is mounting and I'm sure I'm driving Alex crazy. Lucky for both of us, we still have a few weeks of calm before the storm.
I've done pretty much everything I ever wanted to do (without children), so I'm feeling pretty confident that the next chapter of my life will be fulfilling and rewarding.
People have told me that Alex and I should 'get out' and go to movies and do all the couple things that we aren't going to have time to do. Alex and I have been together for ten years. TEN YEARS! If we needed to get something out of our systems before children, I'm 100% confident that we have. We've both travelled (I even went to New Zealand for a month without him and jumped out of a plane and off a cliff-IN THE SAME DAY). I'm set. Our lives will change with the introduction of a new baby but all of this is going to be change for the best. We are both ready to take on this new adventure (but we still believe that no one is ready for what the adventure brings...like all that poop!).
I'm hoping that Marley can sense the goodness of the next chapter of our little family's life rather than the anxiety and imminent freaking out I plan on doing. If he's anything like Alex, Marley is taking his calm and 'happy kitty' cues from my spaz-like behaviour and is doing his best to calm me down.
Maybe my business relationship with my cat is evolving? Maybe he knows that now, more than ever, I need a cuddly friend? Let's hope.
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