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All By Myself 2004-06-28, 9:36 p.m. I'm all alone in this apartment for the first time in two years. It's very lonely and quiet and I miss my kitties very much. I haven't posted this publicly before out of fear of PETA enthusiasts bitching at me for being an irresponsible pet owner, and fear of my own hypocrisy, because I have always insisted that pet owners are taking a responsibility for life and you just don't give them up because your situation changes. Unfortunately, I'm taking a new job that provides housing (private apartment in a residence hall) and because the buildings have central ventilation systems, I can't have my cats live with me anymore. Fortunately, I have the world's most awesome parents, and because they are so supportive of my career change and they adore my cats, they offered to let Tubby and Lucy live with them until I move to a new campus or take a different job on the same campus that does not have live-in requirements. My cats will only be an hour away, the situation is temporary, and I know they are in the best possible hands. It seems silly to some people, I'm sure, to see a voting adult get so worked up over animals and caring for cats, but I maintain that such people simply don't get it. I'll never understand how a cat knows when you're sad, when you're heartbroken, when you're sick, and when you're angry. I'll miss them jumping into my lap and snuggling with me when I'm upset, and how they lie by my side when I'm sick. I'll miss watching them judge my boyfriends and my dates and my friends. I'll even miss the annoying things about having two furballs – tufts of cat hair everywhere, the inability to leave home without a lint roller once-over, cleaning up the occasional piles of cat barf, and so on. When I eat dinner, there aren't two little faces trying to lick my plate anymore. When I get a glass of water, I have it all to myself. Nobody is clawing the furniture, barfing on other people's shoes, or shedding all over the clean laundry. No one is racing up and down the stairs a dozen times in a row, or licking my face, or curling up behind my knees while I'm sleeping. When I'm sleeping, my bed is really empty. I miss my kitties terribly, and I imagine it's like sending your children off to summer camp – you know they're coming back eventually, but things just aren't the same without them in your home.
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