Every morning my alarm goes off at 0530 and I roll over to hit the stop button, in the faint distance, I hear a plop of four padded feet hit the ground as they decend from the perch they were just on. They slowly cross the laminate floors and wait in the doorway jam of the room they reside in. The owner of these padded paws is sitting and listening for me to wrestle myself out of bed. He is listening for any detection of movement out of the bed that is so warm and comfortable. When he doesn’t hear any rustling, or notice the lights flicker on, he turns to his food bowl or water bowl right next to the door and proceeds to feed himself. I hear him faintly crunching his ST/OX Purina Chow, or lapping at the bowl that he has probably put his paw in to cleanse it first. Then he makes his way back to the perch. He now has to wait another 13 minutes for the next alarm to go off.
It’s now 0543, my alarm is blaring again. I’m rolling over, this time, hitting snooze instead of stop. The paws hit the ground, the sound reverbates through the silent house over the sound of the fan blowing cool air across my body. I turn back over to get 8 more minutes of shut eye. Work doesn’t start until 0600. But truthfully, I won’t get up until 0555. He senses this and gets irrated with me. He walks across the hall and knows that the room lights are triggered by motion, so he walks around in circles until the lights flash on. I’m awakened by the sudden onslaught of light piercing my face. I yell his name, and he darts out of the room to stand right outside of the door, probably smirking as if to say, you know you know you have to get up for work, so why are you laying there. I hit the switch by my bed and turn the lights off again. I still have another 5 minutes before the alarm goes off again. I close my eyes, but I hear him pacing back and forth, licking his paws. It’s louder than the fan in the room, and the sound throbs in my ear. He’s sitting there waiting for me to throw the covers off and to get out of the bed. Finally I toss the covers back and put my feet on the chilled floor and slowly open my eyes. He peeks his head in the doorway, and I get up to walk towards the bathroom. He comes in and follows me. I sit upon the royal throne, and he runs in behind me, stroking his body against my legs and my pants that are now around my ankles. I pet his body and rub him behind his ears. He meows to say good morning. I rub my hand down the length of his body to the tip of his tail, then he takes a seat just to the left of me, and I stand up, having finished, and flush the toilet. He takes a few steps back, as I make my way to the sink to wash my hands and then to brush my teeth. He stands close by watching, talking to me, telling me about his nightly adventures. He is either outside the bathroom door, or he’s manuvering between my legs as I stand staring at myself in the mirror. I respond to him in my voice, while I spit, rinse, and gargle. He quickly moves before I trip over him. We walk back to my bedside, where I proceed to grab my glasses, if I didn’t put in a pair of contacts. I take my daily regiment of pills and turn to pet him, while he is now ontop of the bed that I have vacated. He sits and watches me, and I watch him. I walk towards the door, and call him. He comes at the sound of his name. I turn off the light and walk three steps to my office door and turn on the light. He’s right behind me.
I glance at a few emails, making notes which ones to answer first. Then turn and head towards the kitchen. He follows either behind me, or next to me. Still talking about the night, or maybe he is talking about what he plans to do for today, I don’t know. I’m still not fully awake to understand him. I just mutter, uh huh and keep walking. He waits for me by the TV, because he’s been trained to not enter the kitchen. I prepare my breakfast and finally answer him. I’m at like 70% operating level by now. I make my way back to the office and sit down with my food. He’s right behind me. My ADHD pills have now kicked in, and my brain has turned on. I’m not running at full speed now. I make a quick note of everything that is going on around me. He sniffs around the office, as if there were an intruder overnight and he was searching them out. Then he finds a quiet place in the distance, but still close enough to keep his eye on me. He either sits staring at me, staring at the wall, staring off into the distance, curled up in a ball, sitting at the door like a doorman, laying by the door, pleading with me to pick him up to lay in my lap, or talking to me while I work. But this goes on for an hour. He’ll leave me occassionly but he always comes back to keep up the protection all day long.
Finally at the end of the work day, he starts to yell at me, to alert me that it’s 1430, and that I need to get up from the desk and go relax. That my workday is over. If I try to work longer, he yells louder and louder until i shush him. Then when I get up and leave the office behind, he follows me to the living room and jumps on the couch, ready to lay in my lap for snuggles that have avoided him all day long. He has worked his butt off all day protecting me, now it’s my turn to protect him. Often times, I leave him there on the couch, and change clothes to workout. If I’m on the bike, he either sits there and watches, or goes to his room until I’m done. If I’m working out on the floor, he tries to join in, messing with my poses. It’s so hard to do floor strength exercises when you have a cat who wants pets in the middle of mountain climbers or a plank. When I’m done, i head to my room to freshen up and change, then back to the couch to relax for the evening and then we watch tv until dinner time. He eats his food off and on for the day. If he’s been particularly good, he’ll get some wet food (to which I won’t see him the whole day, because he’ll be laid out in his room sleeping). Otherwise, he’s in my lap sleeping, or curled up next to me all night long.
But this…..is my protector, my guardian
