My Triumphant Return (aka Reclaiming My Place in the Pack)

May 27, 2009 -

I'm back from vacation and, as I rounded up each member of The Pack from their respective temporary caretakers, it became really clear to me that my pets failed to miss me nearly as much as I'd missed them. Seriously. It's embarrassing how much I thought about them when I should have been focused on sun, surf and sand.

All that fretting despite intermittent messages from the homeland assuring me The Pack members were doing just fine without me, it hardly seems worth it.

Lou's here, on the couch, deciding whether it's more important to stalk your father's ice cream or sit at the glass door and watch the family of quail living in the backyard. an e-mail from my mother, which I'd retrieved from my hotel room, read. And this short but to-the-point photo essay from Ollie also arrived electronically not too far into my trip; "Hi Mom! The sleepover is a blast, but I'm pooped!" 

(That's Ollie's brother Teddy to the left of him - those two spent a few nights together while I was south of the border and if anyone can give Ollie a run for his money in terms of energy level, it's Teddy. This photo truly says it all.

The report on Honey Pie leads me to believe that she missed me for a whopping 24 hours before realizing her short-term dwelling (at my boss's) featured not only cat food that frequently went unguarded, but also a large enough backyard to eliminate the pesky need-to-take-walks issue that plagues her when she's at home. I also understand that she was successful at maximizing the amount of bed space she could take up with her short, but sausage-like proportions. For Honey Pie, that's all just about as close to heaven as it gets.

"LOVED THE ICE CREAM!" was scrawled in large black letters on both Bear and Sammy's Paw-gress reports from PetsHotel. Sammy (known as "Sammy The Bull" in my family circle, mostly due to the increasing grumpiness he's experiencing with age), actually seems a bit more spry (and less bull-ish) after a few days of rest and relaxation.

Is it possible that, when faced with accoutrements like doggie frozen treats, wildly fun siblings and some space to pee leash free, The Pack forgot we were even gone? I don't really know, but I'm left with a good guess.

--Cat