Closing Doors

I think the last time I could close the door that leads to the laundry room downstairs was in the summer of 2001.  Upon returning from a family road trip to the Southwest, we adopted two orange cats and named them Bryce and Zion.  Unfortunately, one of our dogs killed little Zion.  After that dog left our family, we adopted Cassie, a beautiful and sweet kitten that Jenna claimed as hers.  Once Bryce and Cassie were old enough, we directed them to a litter box in the laundry room downstairs.  Hence, the open door.

Jenna moved to Vermont today and took 12-year-old Cassie with her.  We are crossing our fingers that this works out, because Jenna truly loves Cassie and could use the comfort of a furry, purring creature when she comes home from her new job each day.

While adjusting to the emptiness of the house, I realized that I can now close that door to the downstairs!  Wow, it sure provides a cleaner look to the kitchen!  Who knew?

Cassie is/was an indoor/outdoor cat.  In order to come and go as she pleased, I installed a cat door in the patio screen door off my bedroom.  So from early spring until early winter, I have slept with the door cracked open enough to allow Cassie to move in and out all night long.  Let me just say that I have survived many cold nights with extra blankets.  It occurred to me today that I can sleep without the door open tonight when the temperature will go down to fifty degrees.  I wonder if I will get too hot?

So am I in love with closing doors?  That's a tough one, because closing those doors is, of course, metaphorical.  I no longer have a pet for the first time in . . . let me think . . . FORTY YEARS!  (And that's not counting the pets I had as a child in my parents' home.)  But before you suggest that I go out and adopt a pet, let me tell you that this is a change that has been long in the making.  I like to travel, and it is not fair to pets to upset their daily routines with pet-sitters or drop-in pet feeders.  I prefer to do my traveling guilt-free.  So I guess you could say that one door closes and another opens?  Cliched, but true.

And doors are opening for Jenna, too.  She has landed a job that could evolve into a very satisfying career.  If her cat can provide her with love and affection while she adjusts to her new surroundings, that's a good thing.  It will take me awhile to adjust to my life without Cassie here (just as I am still adjusting to life without Mack, my beloved Golden, whom I lost last December), but I have a couple of trips lined up this fall, so I will be distracted enough.

Doors close.  Doors open.  And sometimes they swing.

Move?  Me?  You're kidding, right?