Running. On Thanksgiving I was registered to run the local Turkey Trot. I passed on it. My heart said to save my energy for my move. Yes, I completed my move on Thanksgiving day. (I still have some stuff to grab to go into storage....and my piano, but for the most part I am moved.) I do not regret my decision at all. However, I do feel bad that I missed my running buddy, Paula's wonderful run, where she set a personal record!!! Go Paula!
I had grand plans to start running this weekend. I am delaying that a bit though. You see, the move has been rough on my body. My back is so tender and 'sore' from moving (I guess). My right knee, the most arthritic ridden knee is really giving me some grief. (Steps are rough on bad knees and all of my storage stuff went into a second story storage place and I moved into a basement....so steps all around!) Maybe tomorrow I will run! I at least know with the knee that I'm not doing any more damage to it... :-)
So I'm still here. I'm still emotional. I have not wavered on my feelings about what needs to be done in terms of my marriage, but it is so difficult to face the 'failure' of my marriage. It is also incredibly difficult to stop 'worrying' about my husband. I have spent the last 16 years since we have been together taking care of him...it's just part of who I've become and it's difficult to stop those tendencies. So I found myself finding something online that he needed to see and I had to fight the urge to text him to take care of it for him. He's a big boy and he needs to stand on his own two feet.
Meanwhile, my cats are doing very well.
Lucy, my old girl (she is my calico and is my 17 year old cancer survivor) immediately left her cage when I arrived, walked around and found a safe corner and she promptly fell asleep! She is sleeping and has discovered that she loves sleeping on an afghan of my mothers (my mom was going to take it upstairs, but I think it's staying down here now) that is sitting on the ottoman.
Ethel spent some time sleeping the first day. She is 14 years old and like Lucy has been through some moves before so she handled it with grace and style....ok she slept the first day away too. But now she is up around and investigating everything and meowing at the door to get to the main part of the house (until my girls are acclimated with my parents cat, there will have to be a separation of cats). She woke me up in the middle of the night a few times last night to meow and 'talk to me' loudly. When I tried to go back to sleep she would paw my face to get my attention. She had a lot to say!
Mertz is the amazing transformation. The first day my skittish little girl (she's 5 years old) went off into the laundry room and hid. I saw her once as she ventured out, covered with cobwebs. I petted her and she ran back to her hidey hole. That was ok . That is what she needed to do for her personal adjustment, she was safe and that's all I cared about. However, when she was ready to venture out, my lone ranger cat who is anything BUT a lap cat....a cat that prefers to be alone and not lay with you or be petted has been by my side constantly. She has laid with me, slept with me and if I try to pet Lucy or Ethel she gallops over in order to get some of the attention. Night and day different!!!! It's the most amazing thing to see! Luckily for me, (and my niece and nephews who want to see her play) she is still playing the piano! She has serenaded my parents and myself many times!So my small 'family' is adjusting. Lets see where this new life takes us. Thinner and healthier if I have anything to say about it!
Glad to hear you and your cats are adjusting. I can relate as I was divorced after 13 years of marriage. I took the cats too. It was tough but the right thing to do; it's been almost 7 years and I'm so much better off. All the best.
ReplyDeleteyou know you made the right decision for you, it's been heading this way for a while now. just remember it's ok to focus on you and do NOT let depression or regret sneak in. focus on the positives in your life and let the rest go. it's an exciting new chapter and you can do/be anything you choose, how exciting is that! mayhaps the cat is just responding to the lack of stress around her now. animals can feel tension between people so now that you're free she's free to explore a new "you".
ReplyDeleteIt's not strange that you go through these emotions. It just happened shortly ago and you need time to build a life for yourself. It will come, one day, one step at a time.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a few weeks since you posted this (I'm behind, as always), so I hope things are still going good for you . . . and are improving.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, we recently moved too. We have 2 cats, one of which is 7 years old and moved as a kitten into our other house. She is very anti-social, we call her our "guard cat" because she's also not very nice to people outside of my family, even attacking a friend (more than once) that is at our house very often. Before we moved, she hid all day, only coming out to eat or wander through the house to a new hiding spot. When we moved she hid under our couch for about a week, but now she is out all the time. She sleeps on our bed with us, and even comes to me to be petted. (She started hating me when we got the dog a year after we got her.) She is even coming out to see when we have guests, which is so unusual.
Anyway, I just find it interesting that a new environment will change a cat's behavior, which I didn't know happened.