The Power Of The Purrrrrrr...

We have pets.

Yes, they're the basic couple of cats and a dog. We've shied away from the exotic ones, snakes, spiders, lizards. The most unusual pet we ever had was a hedgehog. He made a great pet. We do all we can to make our pets's lives as comfortable as possible. We feed them, give them shelter, and try to make them happy. 

The dog is either very happy, or she does her best to convince us that she is.

The cats...

Well, they're cats. I have no idea what they're feeling.

Or thinking.

Or plotting/scheming.

I was not a cat person growing up. My mom grew up on a farm and didn't like cats. She was involved in a traumatic experience as a child which turned her off to cats. We did get one, Lucy, almost fifty years ago when we first moved to the town in which we now live, but Lucy disappeared. We were sure we saw the cat a few months later living with the old cat lady at the corner. She must have had twenty cats or more. We were just kids then and we always blamed the neighbor for stealing our cat.

The more I come to understand cats, the neighbor probably wasn't at as much fault as the cat itself. Lucy probably didn't like living with a family with three children all under the age of ten.

So, having cats around is new for me. I guess I'm still getting used to it. Having any pet is a responsibility, but with cats, I think it's more than usual. Not only do they demand your physical attention, but a psychological one as well. They almost require you try and figure them out, something you can never fully accomplish.

Especially, when they purr.

What is it about that purr that can have such a huge influence on some people? I don't understand it, but when they come up to you, all sweet and innocent (making you forget the mess they made in the hall or how they're turning your once nice furniture into pin cushions...), you pet them and they begin to purr. It's hypnotic. I think, without that ability to purr, cats would lead very different lives than they do now--no scientific evidence to back this up, just my opinion.

And so, at some point in the near future, I'll be resting comfortably in my bed, maybe getting ready to go to sleep, or casually watching a game or movie and the creature will spring, come over and lay down. Then the purr begins. And what you thought was fact, suddenly disappears.