Yesterday was Father's Day, and since we had our local Father's Day event with my stepfather on Saturday, we had the day to ourselves -- out-of-town Dad phone calls but no physical obligations.
The day was supposed to be a sort of work day, with Bryce catching up on PhD work and me taking some time to get ready for the last three days (!) of school with students, and maybe a walk and some reading along the way.
Maebe, though, had other plans. She is still adorable, still a sweet old dame, but she is struggling to adjust and Lucky is making it very, very difficult. He stalks her and terrorizes her constantly, and she seems to always be running and hiding (although it has gotten marginally better this past week). But, we noticed that her litter was tracking and there were little litter footprints, so we switched to a corn-based no-dust litter and it stopped for a while, but then Sunday...SUNDAY.
She'd peed outside the litterbox, on the little mat and on the floor and we realized that the footprints were because she was peeing a bit on the litter-tracking mat, which was really gross. And the floor sustained some damage, which was really sad.
So Bryce had to go to Home Depot, and then pick us up lunch at Chipotle, while I watched Maebe as we figured out a solution to this litterbox problem -- a washing-machine tray meant to catch water leaks, that the litterbox could sit in and provide protection for our lovely, yet vulnerable, hardwood floors.
Oh, no: I sent Bryce to Home Depot. ON FATHER'S DAY. (Worse even than my having to go to Wegman's on Mother's Day morning to get brunch supplies!)
That part didn't bother him as much, though. It was when the guy at Chipotle asked him if he was bringing lunch back for his kids, and Bryce said he didn't have kids, and then the guy said, "But it's Father's Day! No kids? Not even any little nieces or nephews?"
Nope.
"Oh man, that sounds SO LONELY! I'm sorry, man."
Bryce was so bothered by that -- he came back and was like, "OUR LIFE IS NOT LONELY! We don't have a sad, empty, lonely life at all, but that guy totally felt SORRY for me because we don't have kids! Why don't people get that we don't have kids, but our life is not empty and lonely?"
Great question.
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Oh man. That’s SO shitty. I am so sorry Bryce had that happen to him. Just WTF is wrong with people?? Ugh.
ReplyDeleteI have heard that older animals take a lot longer to adjust to a new home. I feel bad for Maebe, because she it sounds like she is stressed and maybe even angry so she’s acting out. When we moved our cat didn’t adjust well and started peeing outside the litter box and it was super frustrating. We had to give her her own space completely and that finally helped. I hope you find something soon that helps settle her down.
That is TERRIBLE!!!!!! I feel pissed that Chipotle guy would be so blunt with what he said, how rude. I hope your cat starts adjusting and doing better with her litter.
ReplyDeleteOoooooof. That is such a gut-punch of an encounter - I am so, so sorry Bryce had to deal with that. Awful and totally ignorant/insensitive/judgmental/rude on the Chipotle guy's part.
ReplyDeleteHere's hoping your kitty is able to start feeling more adjusted soon (and that Lucky scales back the stalking/terrorizing a bit).
Oh good grief. I wish Bryce had said to the guy what he said to you later. But in the moments, it must have felt like a slap in the face. Poor Bryce. Hope his day got better, and the cat situation settles down.
ReplyDeleteThat reminds me when me and the other half rented a cottage in remote Donegal for Christmas on our own (heaven!) and the sour woman who let us in (a mother with two surly kids in the back of her car) said "Just the two of you?? Ugh" with an aghast face. As if to underline this, she said, in festive fashion: "I put a Christmas tree in here, but you can f*ck it out the back if you're not celebrating". These are dreary people with very little imagination, I think.
ReplyDeleteI'm cringing as I'm reading. Super cringey, especially on Father's Day. Hugs to Bryce.
ReplyDeleteSome people can be so, so, well, uncaring, unthinking, and just, ugh.
ReplyDeleteI do so hope that your lovely Maebe settles down.
May peace be with you and Bryce.
Maybe in a few weeks Bryce could take Connor to Chipotle and tell the dude that he has this great nephew in addition to his full and happy life.
ReplyDeleteOuch. Some people have NO tact!
ReplyDelete