Hamster, Cat, Cat, Dog

Certain decisions feel like a trade off between order and life. Pets are a good case in point.

When my daughter was three, my wife suggested we get a hamster. We had no pets, and pets are good for kids. I did not want a hamster. All I could conceive of was mess and smell and noise, and for two years that’s exactly what we got.

Then it was a cat. In the pet store one day when daughter was five, the cat adoption lady placed this six week old kitten in her lap, and that was that. Daughter’s lap is still where that cat spends most of its time. Meanwhile, cat litter, hairballs, vomit, urine, hair, scratched furniture . . .

Adding a second cat didn’t help.

And now a dog. He’s been her since September, and he was all my doing. House training is proving challenging, though. It’s a mess.

Living things make mess and disrupt order. I’ve reached the limit of the order I can sacrifice to those things.

Where’s yours limit?