Of cats, coffee and patience...

Jasmine is starting to settle in. She is still very skittish and spends most of her days behind the sofa. We've blocked off her ability to get deep under the bed as well as under the reclining portion of the sofa, and that seems to have helped a bit. I think part of it is also her simply learning that we're not half bad animals. She gets fed every day twice a day, her box is always clean, and this little flat is about 250 times as large as her space at the shelter. Things are looking up to her apparently.

I get the majority of her social attention right when I get up. She is very nocturnal, and spends her "day" creeping around the flat in the dark of night. When I get up in the morning and start making coffee, she's just winding down, and will creep over to me and demand to be petted. She was declawed (fronts only) by a previous owner, so her paws are very, very soft, but she still has the pad and knead desire and reflex. It's actually very cute. I'll sit down at my desk, and within a few minutes I'll feel my butt being kneaded, and she'll be there standing on her hid legs, demanding my attention. We have pets for about 10min, then she gets rather bored of me and my monkey ways. But it's nice to have something that comes and says hello to me every day. I am certain now that I won't be returning her. Even if she's never a snuggle kitty, she's a good little Buddha and deserves a stable home. I have that, and she's welcome to share it with me.

I actually still feel a bit guilty for wanting to give up on her so quickly. What would have happened in my life if that were people's attitudes towards me? "Sticking with it and seeing it through" has been a life-long learning experience for me; a practice that I still to this day struggle with. Whenever it doesn't fit the idea I have in my head, I go "this isn't what I wanted!" and go for the wholesale change way of dealing with things. I have been getting better lately of simply being with what is. Still a lot of practice to do there, but I am beginning to see that it, and it alone is the only way to find peace.

Mu-ow...