I'm Incapable of Parenting More Than Alpines and Felines

04/26/2010

I'm Incapable of Parenting More Than Alpines and Felines

Today was the second day of gloomy, rainy weather in New York City, and for some reason it felt like 100 years since we've seen the sun.

Part of this weight, I think, comes from the anxiety of trying to get the little cat adopted we found on Saturday on the garden wall. Yesterday, somewhat miraculously, two people wrote to express interest, and I felt very good about his prospects, even though we couldn't find him in the rain. Then this morning I went to the house, and there he was, crying and shivering. I brought him into the house where I installed him (with food, water, litter and a blanket) into the basement, and notified the potential adopters that they should plan to come up and meet him as soon as possible. One backed out this afternoon after saying that his roommate was allergic and hated cats, which was dispiriting until I heard from the second person, who is going to come up to Washington Heights later tonight. Cross your fingers, everyone!

After work I went to the house, where he seemed quite content, if a bit lonely. He's younger than I first thought, probably not more than five months, but he seems healthy: his ears are clean, he has no patches of missing fur and he knows how to use the litter box. He sat on my lap for a long time, squirming and purring very loudly; then I showed him a few toys and he played with those until he got tired and climbed back into my lap.

At times I felt overwhelmed thinking about the future of this kitten, and how utterly alone he is in the world, and whether he would have the luck of finding a home and if he would be happy there. I was struck by the incapacity of (most?) animals to plan or at least fret about the long-term future, which I think is probably one of those attributes of humanity that is both a curse and blessing.

This idea also made me think that it's good that I don't have children, because I think I would probably terrify them with my own uncertainty, and they would never be able to sleep with the comfort of not caring what the next day would bring.

Posted at 08:02 PM in Expression, Science Projects | Permalink

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Music: Death Culture at Sea and Saturnine

Listen or download songs and records from my indie-rock past with Saturnine here and Death Culture at Sea here.

Music Video: Remembrance of Things Past

Watch the rock opera Remembrance of Things Past written and performed by Saturnine and Frances Gibson, starring Bennett Madison and Sheila McClear.

Video: The Chaos Detective

The Chaos Detective is a series about a man searching for 'identity' as he completes assignments from a mysterious organization. Watch the first episode (five parts) on YouTube.

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Expression//Reaction//ScienceProjects

04/26/2010