"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea."
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Shortly after my wife and I first met, I went over to her townhouse to pick her up for our second date and got a rude surprise. She had a black cat, a Burmese which I immediately disliked. My impression was that the feeling was mutual. I was a dog guy, and that cat had a "what are you doing in my house?" sort of attitude. After meeting Gizmo, I was wondering that myself.
Somehow I was able to put Gizmo out of my mind. And we sort of put up with each other, as Liz and I dated, fell in love and got married; that is, until we got back from our honeymoon and Liz moved in and Gizmo with her. Oh, she liked the house alright and seemed to get along okay with my dog Winston, though I think he pretty much ignored her. We stayed out of each other's way and took a live-and-let-live approach to being under the same roof.
But one night, early in our marriage, I was lying in bed reading. We were about to turn out the lights, and I noticed that there were a few fine black hairs on my pillowcase. Somehow in the next moment, there seemed to be one in my mouth, and I didn't like it. I complained to Liz, who looked at me like I was a little crazy and perhaps was wondering if her thirty-day money-back guarantee on me was still in effect. I could see her doing the mental calculations.
Somehow we survived, and Gizmo and I gradually got used to each other and even grew to like each other, a little bit. After a while, I enjoyed her jumping up in my lap to be petted and meowing at me in the morning and when I came home from work. Do you know what I liked best? I liked having her up on the bed at night, as I read. I would pull up the covers a little bit, and she would crawl in, turn around and lie right next to me and purr. Though it took a while, I had fallen in love with that cat, against all the odds.
Gizmo's gone now, but I have a picture of her in my office lying on a red pillow on the couch. She became part of our family and was there when each of our kids was born. She was a wonderful cat, though it took me a while to realize it. And I still miss her.
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