I was having a pretty rough evening on Monday night, and that was coming off a slow and unfulfilling weekend. I’ve been a little under the weather, but more than that it’s been a really challenging period for my writing career.
I’m seeking new funding for my blog, genxchronicle.com. I cover news, culture and lifestyle through a Generation X lens. But it’s a tall order. I’m also trying to get a literary agent at a large talent agency to read my memoir. She’s promised several times that she will, but she hasn’t yet. So everything is up in the air.
On top of that, Trump just nominated Brett Kavanaugh, an extremely conservative judge, to be the next Supreme Court Justice. Kavanaugh strongly believes in gun rights, he’s opposed to equality for the LGBTQ community, he doesn’t think the protection of civil rights should be a priority, he’s extremely pro-business, and his views on abortion are murky and definitely not fully pro-choice. All in all, it’s a very unappealing package.
So I was feeling kinda down on Monday evening. It was also back to the workweek, which is always tough. I watched parts of a doubleheader between the Mets and the Phillies, but I had trouble focusing on the game.
Finally around midnight I went into the bedroom to get the Roku from the bedroom TV so that I could plug it into the living room TV and watch a little late-night tube in the living room.
I reached behind the bedroom TV to pull out the Roku stick, and all of a sudden I noticed my cat Copper was there. She had been lying in her favorite spot on top of a pile of laundry on a chair in the corner of the bedroom, right next to the TV.
She jumped up onto the TV stand, and I said “hey Copper, hey beautiful, how are you tonight? I haven’t seen you much tonight sweetheart.”
She then jumped onto the floor, and I lay on the corner of the bed in my traditional spot, with my arms hanging down to the floor, and I started to pet her. My goal is to pet her on my bed, but she’s still shy about hanging out on elevated furniture, so I often pet her from the bed while she’s on the floor.
At first I pet her on the back of her coat. I could immediately feel a loosening up of my shoulders. I pet her some more on her back. And then I did my new favorite thing, which is to pet her on top of her forehead, right over her eyes. She loves it, she absolutely loves it.
So that’s what I did, I pet her on her forehead for a good five minutes, caressing it with my hand and occasionally petting her cheek too, which is another popular spot that cats love.
During this time everything seemed to slow down, and my thoughts became quiet. My heart rate eased. I just pet Copper on her head and gave her my love, and she returned her love to me by rubbing her head up against my arm and my hand.
From time to time she would sprawl out sideways in front of me on the floor, stretch her jaw open wide, show her fangs, and just let herself be a wild cat. Whenever she did that I would watch in amazement, then stroke her back along the length of her coat as she lay sidelong on the floor. It felt incredible, just incredible.
Occasionally when I would pet her a little too hard, she would put her paw up and casually brush my hand or arm away, with the ever so slightest touch of her razor-like nails to my arm or hand. She could have actually scratched me if that’s what she wanted to do. But she was just letting me know, “hey buddy, this feels great, just don’t get to too rough, okay?”
So I followed her cues, and I pet her for what must have been a good fifteen minutes in total.
Finally she started to move away from me a little, out of petting reach, and to lounge on the floor farther away from me. I think she’d had enough.
I lay back in my bed with my head propped on a pillow and just exhaled deeply. Whoa! That was awesome. Once again, my very cool cat Copper totally chilled me out, and also completely elevated my mood.
For those fifteen minutes of petting, I forgot about the challenges of my writing career, I forgot about the awfulness of Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court, and I forgot about everything else too.
Instead I just felt… happy. Happy that I was at home, with food in the refrigerator, and an air conditioner to keep me cool, and a lovely cat to pet and share love with. I guess I felt… grateful.
So thank you Copper for lifting my mood, and for putting things in perspective. You have magical powers, you really do.
And for anyone who’s lonely or going through tough times, I urge you to adopt a shelter animal. There are so many wonderful dogs and cats in need of a forever home, like Copper was when I adopted her. The amount of joy you’ll receive from having them in your home is just immense.
If you’re thinking about adopting, or you’re on the fence, I say go for it. If you give a loving home to an animal, you’ll receive back ten times more love from that animal in return.
Because that’s what Copper has given to me. She’s given me more love than I ever could have imagined.
She’s the best.
