Feline Surprise

I am not a pet lover. Like I wouldn’t hurt one, but I prefer not to own one. I managed to raise my boys without them asking for a dog, a turtle, a hamster, or anything. The biggest attempt we made to have a pet when they were younger was Brice’s betta fish, Harrison. And even that was a pain because betta are high maintenance fish.

They only eat small amounts of high-quality betta food once or twice per day, the water has to be changed weekly and at least 20% of the water has to be replaced with dechlorinated water, they need a filtered tank, and most importantly, they don’t play well with others. So, if you want multiple bettas, you need multiple tanks and wash, rinse, repeat on the maintenance. Luckily, Brice only had Harrison. When we moved back home from Texas way back when, Harrison didn’t make the trip.

I thought our pet days were behind us.

Then, when Jordon turned 19, he asked for a pet-a cat of all things. Immediately NO was my first and final answer. Cats climb and scratch and need litter boxes and they’re sneaky… and just no! That young man was not taking no for an answer. He convinced me of all the benefits of having a cat as a pet. He even tried to convince me that he would buy the food and change the litter and be fully responsible for the animal. Still…NO. When that wasn’t enough, Brice joined him in his plight to have a cat. “We never had any pets growing up.” They were laying it on thick. And guess what, it worked. I caved. I gave Jordon a gift card for Christmas that year and told him he can do whatever he wants with it. I was honestly hoping that he would have just bought a pair of shoes or downloaded a new game. Nope-he came home one day with cat supplies. He had gone and picked out a kitten but had to wait three weeks to bring her home. The joke was on me!

Selena entered our home in January 2021 and in the last four years has taken over as the queen of the castle. As expected, she scratched furniture, and we had to train her not to climb on certain things. Most importantly, she had to obey the number one rule-she could not step foot in my bedroom!

I felt like that little feline had taken over my space. I didn’t even enjoy sitting on the couch and watching television anymore because I didn’t know if she would try to jump on the furniture while I was sitting there. I was low key nervous around her at first. She only seemed to respect the boys and would hiss at me every chance she had.

Jordon’s “I’ll do everything for her” plea was short lived because he would go and hang with friends on the weekend, then eventually Brice went off to college. So who was home with Selena….yep, you guessed it!

I couldn’t let her go hungry or have a dirty litter box, so I began to do all the things that I said I wouldn’t do to take care of her. Then eventually, we became friends. {rolls eyes}

I speak to her every morning when I come out of my room. Sometimes she’s at my bedroom door waiting like she has an internal clock that lets her know that I’m about to open the door. I had to teach her that I don’t need her help with putting her food and water in the bowls. We have conversations with each other, we understand each other, but she’s still not allowed in my room, and I do not touch her. I open the blinds for her because she loves to sit at the top of the living room chair and look out the patio door. I tell her to hold it down when I leave for work, I greet her when I return, I let her know that she’s stuck with me when the boys aren’t home and that I don’t want to hear any whining. I even bought her a Christmas present last year. I have grown to love Selena Gomez Austin.

She is a part of my whole family now. I even sign birthday and Christmas cards “from Bri, Jordon, Brice, and Selena.” Who have I become? Sheesh. One night I even dreamed that we had another cat named Rocky and she and Rocky somehow got out of the house and were hit by a car. I screamed for Selena because I knew that Jordon would be devastated if something happened to her. Well Rocky died and Selena lived, but she lost her babies. I’m sure there’s some meaning behind that dream, but I haven’t figured that one out.

What I know for sure is that this non-pet lover has fallen in love with our cat, Selena. She’s actually Jordon’s cat and I don’t really claim her. And if anybody asks, I will deny it all.

What have your children persuaded you to do or buy that was an immediate no, but then turned out to be something really great? I know I can’t be the only one getting bamboozled by these grown teenagers.

Comment and share your story.