The Things Mothers Do

I love my daughter – really I do! I enjoyed raising her (well, there were a few times during those delightful teen years....), and I have thoroughly enjoyed interacting with her as an adult. I love her kids and look forward to my time with them. I love her husband – he is so totally a part of this crazy family.

But, alas, Jenni also has cats. She’s down to two now, but even two cats need to eat and drink when Jenni and the family go on vacation. And good old Mom gets “cat duty.” It’s a little easier these days with just two cats. The third one, while he did have an interesting personality, had one serious flaw – man poops (as Jenni called them). Made litter box duty much more challenging.

So yesterday was my first day of Cat Duty while Jenni and family make a trip to Tucson for Spring Break. And such a fun day it was. I didn’t get home until around 6:45 and immediately got into my sweats and cozy, fuzzy socks. Started working on dinner and talking with Ed. He asked something about the weekend so I checked my calendar and saw “Cat Duty” in bold letters! Shit! I forgot! It was now 7:20pm and I knew “the girls” would not be happy. So I removed the cozy fuzzy socks, put on my tennis shoes and bolted.

Jenni had told me that she was expecting a package from UPS and had left instructions for it to be placed in the gardening box in the back yard because other packages have been stolen from her porch. So my first stop was to open the fence and find the garden box. I finally figured out which container it was and I opened it. Nada! No packages. Just a lot of tools and pieces of yard decor and unidentifiable things. I looked carefully to be sure I didn’t miss it and then closed the box. Almost. It wouldn’t close! Crap – now I’m rummaging through all the stuff trying to figure out the problem. Turned out to be a combination of some tool sticking up too high, and the hinge thingy not working right. I finally got it closed and proceeded to the mail box.

Nothing there, but I saw Jenni’s UPS sticker still on her door – the one with the instructions on it. Drat, they must not have come by. I went up the stairs and noticed a note on the UPS sticker saying the package was left next door. Back down the stairs and up the stairs next door. I rang the bell, heard a lot of commotion and kids, then the door opened. And I was face to face with a Pit Bull!!! Now, I am NOT a dog person. Never been a fan of the whole barking, crotch-sniffing, jumping thing. But this was no ordinary dog – it was a pit bull! My life flashed before me and I thought, “Great, I’m going to die in my sweats and tennis shoes while Ed is home waiting for dinner.” Thankfully the dog ran past me down the stairs while the lady of the house yelled after him and a young boy ran out into the street to try to catch him. The lady gave me the packages and I juggled them back down the stairs and up Jenni’s stairs as fast as I could with bad knees and two bulky packages in my arms (not to mention fear in my heart). I was getting ready to unlock the door when that damn dog came back and started running towards me!! Of course, the lock chose that moment to be a bit sticky but I managed to open it, throw the packages in, break a nail, and slam the door shut.

The cats were happy to see me so I fed them, watered them, cleaned their “bathroom”, and told them I’d be back tomorrow and they better damn well appreciate it!