Recovery Post Workplace Abuse: New Friends

 Meet my new besties: Chewy, Toffee and Ms Petite.

Various friends have graciously opened their doors, hearts and homes to allow me to come in and socialize and be socialized by their pets. The first was Chewy, a ShiPoo who loves to cuddle up on the couch and be petted. I think this is his idea of dog heaven. 

The second is (Mr.) Toffee (the Mr. is not a part of his name), a Shitzu, who is very full of energy and in some ways scares me; however, (Mr.) Toffee showed me an interesting side of himself yesterday when he laid down quietly on his table and graciously allowed me to detangle and brush his hair (note: although he wasn't totally brushed, this picture shows his current state not the state he was in when I came into his house). He patiently endured my less than gentle ministrations and never once offered to bark, bite or growl - unless you count when I was sitting at the table eating some delicious homemade cranberry bread. Then he got downright menacing when I wasn't getting the memo and sharing with him. 

Then there is Ms Petite, a lilac point Siamese with one eye who lives with Toffee. She is the most aloof and least cuddly of my three new besties. With good reason since she's a Siamese after all. She is also the one with the softest fur. She has allowed me to do the "unthinkable" and pick up her even though she prefers to be petted on her own terms. She endures my petting her while holding her without even attempting to nip at me let alone bite me.

There is another not quite bestie yet (not pictured), also living in the same house with Toffee and Ms. Petite, a Tonkinese cat named Shimera.  She is less social than Toffee and Ms. Petite and I have yet to win her over.  She is my current challenge.

The last "bestie", also not pictured, is Monte who belongs to a young lady who entered into my life over four years ago to come and clean.  An older feline, pretty well set in his ways, he too allowed me to put him on my lap and interact with him.  He looked at me with such sad eyes as though to say that he understood my "sad" story about the Humane Society and felt it was very sad indeed.

AND ...

There are benefits that come with spending time with other people's furbabies: Monte's humans invited me and hubby over and treated us to a steak dinner while I petted their cat; Toffee, Ms. Petite and Shimera's human invited me over and treated me to fresh baked cranberry bread; Chewy's humans provide human socialization and unconditional acceptance along with coffee when I come to visit.  I feel truly relaxed in their home.

If this keeps up, I'm going to find myself thankful for the Humane Society for dismissing me from my volunteer work of petting kitties. Not only are these visits more fun but they provide something the Humane Society did not:  appreciation.

I believe I'm seeing the "metal roof" mentioned in an earlier post starting to reveal itself.

Life is good.