Don't get me wrong, I love animals. The thought of becoming "the crazy cat" person, however, does not sound so appealing. We all have an aunt, a sister, or a distant relative who never had kids. Sometimes these women are married, sometimes divorced, or sometimes they never married at all. In any case, these women have lived full, meaningful, and productive lives without the inclusion of children. Oftentimes, they have a horse or another furry sidekick who seems to take up the blank space on the refrigerator door (where convention says there should be finger paintings and letters to Santa). But then there are the others. The ones who have taken an empty nest and filled it with just one too many cats, dogs, or ponies. These people collect animals like other people collect accolades: they give meaning to life. They say things like, "as much as they ask you to, please don't let the girls out of the house." Or, "before we got the twins (Flopsy and Mopsy), this house was so boring. Now it has new life in it!" Yikes. It's just a hop, skip, and a head-long tumble into "crazy cat" mentality. I worry that my husband and I are not as far from it as we like to think. We whip out our phones when anyone asks us if we have any pets (there are at least a dozen "adorable" shots of the two of them), include them in our Holiday photos, and only take vacations that are "dog-friendly". (You stink, Moab.)
I don't want to be a "dog-mom" forever. Even though my darling students wished me a happy Mother's Day because they know I love my dogs to bits…that doesn't make it alright.
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