Morning Journaling

   I awoke this morning with My-Better-Half and crept out to make his breakfast and coffee. Every.Single.Night. I lay in bed with my awesome reading head lamp strapped on, my book or kindle pressed to my face and read until I can't keep my eyes open. Literally, they are closing and there is nothing I can do about it. I have done this for as long as I can remember, since I learned to read I think. And every night I think, "oh its not that bad waking up at five a.m. I'll be fine. This book is worth the pain I'll be in in the morning!" And every morning, I curse myself and my stupidity. Until I can crawl out to the kitchen and make some semblance of a cup of coffee. Then things get a little better. By the time the kids roll out of bed, I'm fine and ready for most anything. 

Well, this morning, I realized early that our cat hadn't been let in the night before. This is important because we live at the base of a mountain and there are lots of wild critters that would enjoy a tasty morsel fed on kitchen scraps and high end cat food (thanks coupons). It was my fault. I forgot. Anyway, I looked for her all over. I called. I whistled. I cajoled. She was nowhere to be seen.

So what do I do? I go into the house, drink a second cup of coffee. Cry over it for exactly 10 minutes. Log on to the computer. Go to craigslist. Search "free kittens." Immediately e-mail a few people who seem to have little fur balls needing a home. I cry for exactly 10 minutes thinking about our late darling (kind of generic looking), sweet (likes to bite), gentle (has a pension for snagging your foot from her hiding place as you go by. Blue swearing is what ensues) cat.

I bet you can guess what happened. As I'm sniveling, I hear a little thump and then the lanky tiger strolls off the patio and into our open door. She yawns and stretches and meows a couple times to tell me she's home. Then she strolls over to the high-end cat food and starts to fill her tummy.

And exactly everyone who I e-mailed on craigslist has gotten back to me about the kittens that need homes. Sigh. Only me would this happen to.