So, our household now has two cats, Shadow and Mario. My husband had agreed that after we had been married a few months, we could get a cat. We ended up with sweet little Shadow.
Two weeks into our journey as new kitty parents, we both woke up to a plaintive meow nearby. I was startled, thinking Shadow was caught somewhere and hurt. I relaxed when I realized Shadow was sound asleep on my shoulder. I was about to go back to sleep when my husband woke up, asking me about Shadow. With both of us wide awake, we quickly decided the meow was coming from outside. We got up and investigated. We soon found Mario, sitting underneath our bedroom window, frightened and starving.
Though we did search for his family, none of our neighbors claimed him. We believe he was abandoned, since we live beside a road. We eventually took him in, too. We called him Mercy until we found out he was a boy. We changed the name to Mario.
Shadow is a sweet kitty who generally comes when you call, will sit on you and purr, and generally naps any place up high. When you call her, she will first go to the other human in the room, then on to you. To acknowledge both of us, I guess. She runs around the house with Mario, but gets bored before he does. When they were younger, they used to tackle each other. Shadow was bigger than Mario, and enjoyed the game tremendously. Then Mario grew bigger than her and could start pinning her. Shadow seemed to realize the folly of teaching him that game. Shadow is also fond of the kitchen counter, a place that she is expressly forbidden to climb. We’re still working on breaking her of that habit.
Mario is full of boundless energy, and only sleeps when he is exhausted. He climbs into anything, and keeps trying to squeeze himself into the top of the closed closet door, because he wants to. Because he just doesn’t get it. Though Shadow likes to nap up high, Mario is the one who generally perches higher than her. He regularly jumps on top of our medicine cabinet and above our kitchen cabinets. Mario has also jumped behind the fridge twice (thankfully, he’s seemed to have outgrown that). He also wants to hop into our dresser drawers and has tried more than once to jump into the shower while it’s in use. Mario, as you can tell, isn’t always very bright.
Try to do anything productive in this house, and you will soon find yourself lovingly being joined by one or both of our kitties. It’s like they sense when we’re about to do something.
Both cats are wonderful, and we enjoy having them in our house (most of the time). However, when you are intent on working, they can be annoying.
The cats reminded me today of the two sides of writing – boundless energy, infinite curiosity, with a penchant for winding up in places you don’t belong. Then there’s the quiet demure side that generally does what you’re supposed to, but stays longer in the places where you are not supposed to go.
Do you need both sides to writing? Absolutely! You can’t go on an adventure without energy, curiosity, and a bit of fearlessness. But you also need the quiet side of yourself to balance out the wild energy with no though of your destination. You need both kitties to make your writing work.
Though Shadow hasn’t quite figured out I can’t work like this…
So, when you get annoyed with one side of your writing self, just take a break and hope that either the other side comes soon, or that your wild side will back down. And pray you don’t get stuck behind a fridge – those things are hard to move!
trueloveseries 