Unconditional Love

Something I have noticed with my two cats that you don't see in many people is unconditional love.  Both of my boys show love in different ways.  Falcor's favorite display of affection is to lick then nibble then a slight lick again.  Orion's display of affection is to snuggle close and flop himself against you and be as close as he possibly can.  No matter what is going on in life whether it is issues with a job, issues with a spouse or anything they show love.  There are times when you can tell when they are mad at you (Falcor likes to fart on pillows), but they quickly forget and show love and want attention.  They don't put conditions on loving their "momma."  Cats accept us for who we are and don't judge.  I could be singing the most embarrassing song and dancing like an idiot in my room and they will love and accept me for that.   They don't get upset with you for changing or doing something out of character.  They just keep on loving  you.  All they want in return is for you to love them back.

That is something people need to learn.  We need to understand that love is nothing something that we should put conditions on.  It is not
something that we do to get something from someone, something we hold other another's head.  Unconditional love is loving someone despite all their faults and failures.  We think so much of ourselves in every aspect of our lives that we tend to forget that we need to show someone that we love them for the simple fat that they are who they are.  Much like animals do.  But how can we as people love an animal unconditionally but not the people in our lives?  Why is it we put conditions on loving the people who are the closest to us?  How can we tell someone we love them and then make demands of them?

How can we claim to love someone unconditionally when we expect something more in return?  Shouldn't it be that we love them for them and the only thing we expect is for them to love us back and for them to be happy.  How can we not accept someone for who they are and love them for who they are and not who we want them to be?

Loving

Orion has been getting better at being comfortable around us.  He loves to sleep on our pillows and snuggle with me.  He is definitely a momma's cat.  When we snuggle he looks up at me, closes his eyes and nuzzles my nose.  It is so cute.  He is such a lovable cat and shows his love with nuzzles and from time to time he gives kisses.  Makes me wonder how anyone could 1) give him up, 2) hurt him however way they hurt him to make him terrified of people.  But he is getting past that and comfortable enough to show his love.  He just needed the time to learn to trust us and see that we would not hurt him in any way and just give him love and attention the way he deserves.  We needed to show him we would not abandon him or anything like that.  Which of course got me thinking.

Often times we are hurt in the past for various different reasons and need that certain someone to love us back.  It takes time to trust someone again after you've been hurt. Its hard to look at another person and not wonder if they will hurt you or if you could trust them.  How could it be easy?  If only there was a way to turn off all emotions and go through life able to be unhurt and unfeeling, but that is not the case.  We need to take time to overcome our feelings of hurt and damage so to speak. But after time,when you love someone you should show it.  Why hide that you are in love with someone especially after being hurt so much?  I think we hide that we love someone after being hurt as a way of protecting ourselves.   We hiss and growl to keep them at bay, but once they push through the hiss//growl wall we enjoy their presence and begin to allow ourselves to be loved and love.

When we first got Orion he didn't want to be around us, he preferred the company of the other cats.  That is something I think we tend to do, surround ourselves with the people we not just feel comfortable with, but also feel connected with.  But as time wore on and we showed the kitten that he was loved and wouldn't be hurt he has begun to curl at my feet, nuzzle my nose with his and a variety of other things.  He still has his moments of hiss//growl wall, but it is breaking down.  We need to allow the people in our lives who love to break down that wall within ourselves and learn to allow someone else into our lives.  Otherwise we would be trapped alone and scared.

Birthdays

30 years ago today I was born to the earth.  It wasn't much a different feeling other than "holy crap I'm 30" kind of thinking.  But it just seemed like another day.  Nothing special about it.  My boyfriend took me to lunch before work and my boss allowed me the day off but there is nothing different.  No magical light and song to signify I have reached 30 years on this earth.

I image this is how a cat feels.  Each is not really all that different unless they find something new to explore like my cats finding a new hole.  I know there are some people who throw birthday parties for their pets, but honestly I don't know our cat's birthdays..I don't even remember exact dates we got them.  I know I got Falcor in July and Orion in November.  Not sure when Tom got Pop-eye.  But the cats don't really care that we don't know their birthdays.  I have to wonder, why is it so important to us to have other people remember and celebrate our birthdays?  Is it because we celebrate how many years we have been on the earth, that through everything life threw at us, we are still here willing to continue the journey?

Why is it that birthdays are so important to humans?  I find it odd that I didn't care that it is my birthday, is it because I am at that age when birthdays don't really matter to me.  I know girls who get angry when their boyfriends don't get them anything or when friends forget birthdays.  I am not one of those girls/people.  I think I have been around my cats too much that it doesn't matter too much to me anymore that a day is the day I was born.  I really am turning into a catgirl...nyan!

Playtime

Popeye has come to realize what the lazer pointer is.  Whenever we bring it out, he looks at the pointer then back to the floor.  He knows that little thing is where the dot comes from and he loves to play with it. Even though he knows what it is and knows that we are the ones who control the little green dot, he still amuses us when he plays with it.

I don't think we take time to enjoy the simple pleasures in life like playing with our cats.  How often to people stop and enjoy a good amount of time playing with a cat?  like an hour or so?  It does wonders for the soul I think.  Enjoy the video of Popeye running circles after the green dot...poor thing makes himself dizzy.

Family

 In November of 2011 we adopted Orion into our family.  He was so shy and needed love and a happy home, so we gave it to him.  Right off the bat he bonded with the other cats.  They became brothers immediately.   It isn't unusual to see the cats laying together, Falcor at times has his paw draped over Orion as if he was hugging him.  There are times all three cats are laying beside each other enjoying one another.  They also fight and play much like siblings do.  Falcor is the cat that cries in attempts to get the other one in trouble...I admit I was the one who did this when I was younger and wrestled with my brother.  The boys act as if they had been a part of the same litter.  Together since the time they were born.  I love coming into the room and seeing them sleeping with one another and cuddled together.

 As humans we tend to forget the importance of having family around us.  We allow rifts and grudges to come in between the people we should be holding dearest to us.  Many find pleasure in causing harm to family rather than being the safe refuge as we should be.  I personally cannot imagine life without my family, especially my older brother.  In the past we have had our differences.  At times we would have bitten each others' heads off and when we fight we go all out.  No holds bar.  But when it comes down to it, I would honestly be lost without him in my life.   We tend to forget that sometimes all we have in this world is our family. Someone who is there to support us and love us.  We tend to take that for granted sometimes.  We allow ourselves to drift away from those people; including aunts and uncles.  There are people who don't know who these people are.

I know there is the saying that we hurt the people we love the most and that are closest to us, that would explain  why we tend to hurt our family so much.  Recently one of my cousin's daughters went to college.  Not only is my cousin torn up about but so is her other daughter.  The two girls have been best friends all their lives, inseperable and now they have forced to learn how to live apart.  I remember a time when it was like that for all families.  I even consider my brother my best friend.  We grew up together, we've been there through the toughest times life thrown at us.  But there are also the people we adopt into our family, friends who have become more than just friends.  I have a few friends whom I view as sisters because we have grown as close as a sister would be.  Even then we tend to hurt them and betray them.  Why, I wonder.
Family is a unit that should be cherished and treasured, not shoved and pushed aside and forgotten about.

It will be a year in November since we brought Orion in, and I have to say I couldn't imagine seperating the three cats now.  They have come to depend and rely on one another for comfort, companionship and more.  Isn't that how we should be with our family?

Loyalty

The other morning I woke up for work and seen this.  Pop-eye cuddling my boyfriend (Pop-eye is his cat).  He normally just sleeps next to him or at his feet, he never really clung to his arm the way he is in the picture.  When I seen them like that I just HAD to take the picture because it just made me think of loyalty and love.  A lot people tend to say that dogs are loyaly creatures, which I don't doubt, while cats are not loyal.  I disagree with that.  All three of our cats are loyal to one of us.  Pop-eye is loyal to Tom and Falcor and Orion are loyal to me.   Falcor even comes running when I call for him.  Cats can be just as loyal as dogs.   They are not just loyal to us, their owners but it seems they are also loyal to each other and seems they care for each other even though I know there are people who think animals don't have emotions like humans do.

While I think of the loyalty of our cats I have to wonder if we are as loyal as they are.  Do we stand beside our friends not matter what, do we forgive their faults and love them for who they are, or do we hold grudges that tear friendships apart.  I have lost friends during my battle with cancer, then more when they got married and I remained single.  Friends who said they were loyal to me.  Too often I see people leaving those who care about them, not sticking by them when they needed it most.  How often do we see other people hurting one another for no reason, or over something petty and small.  I read a facebook status of someone losing a friend they were loyal to because the "friend" found out this person was gay.   Cats don't do things like that.  The only way the become unloyal is if you beat them or do horrible things to them.  Cats stay by their owners side, when I was going through Chemotherapy, the cat I had then Cuddles, would wake me up at night and look at me, or she would lay right beside me when I slept after a treatment, she wanted to be close to me and give me comfort.  Why can't humans be loyal as cats or even dogs?  Cats don't discriminate against who they are loyal too, Pop-eye keeps an eye on the door when I keep it open, i don't know if he wants to protect or run when someone comes to the door.  I like to think he wants to protect the house from the outside cats he sees, or those horrible horrible things called birds.

I think the concept of loyalty is often lost on us humans, we tend to think of ourselves instead of thinking about other people, especially those in our lives.  We expect others to loyal to us, but are we ever really loyal to those we expect it from?

Laughter

I have come across a few pictures of cats that have made me laugh out loud.  Sometimes laughter is the greatest medicine for anything.   My cats have done so many different things that have caused me to laugh and wonder what they were thinking, like Falcor going from room to room meowing or meowing down the heater vent in the living room.  Both of the pictures I have posted are two of the pictures that I laugh every time I look at them.  The one on the right that says stop laughing makes me think of my cats after they get a bath.   Once Pop-eye found himself in the basement when we left for the night.  Our neighbor told us he found a cat in the basement but couldn't get him to come to him.  So we searched and search until we heard his meow up in the rafters.  When we pulled him down he was black.  All black.   When we washed him our tub was black and he looked miserable like that cat.

Too often we don't take the time to laugh at things or even ourselves.I think we need to do that more often.  I just be able to laugh at ourselves and then forget our mistakes or embarrassing moments later.  Cats do things that would other wise be embarrassing like sleeping in a sink or falling off the bed while they roll around for attention.  Laughter comes with cats, enjoying their insidiousness and their actions.   The pictures on LOLcats are examples of laughter from owning cats, if only I could capture my boys in one of their moments.  Enjoy the laughter that follows from owning a cat and learn to laugh at yourself sometimes.