Vera the cat...

The other day I was late for work. Earlier that morning I had been running almost ahead of schedule so I decided to spend a few moments petting our cat Vera. She is plump and slow and awkward and can't successfully complete a jump over the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs so she spends most of her life upstairs, alone. How sad.

After petting her I decided that I too deserved to have a little something special so I sat down and painted my toe nails. I'm the only one who will ever see them this time of year but isn't that a wonderful thought? Only I get to see the bright fun nail polish that is hidden under my winter socks. Just me and no one else.

Jake told me that he helped Vera over the gate the other night so she could spend some time with the rest of the family. Apparently it wasn't as fun as she thought it would be and soon she was sprinting for her life from a busy little gal who just HAD to pull that fluffy tail. Vera was so focused on getting away from Rachel that she momentarily forgot about her lack of abilities and leaped over the gate to safety. Interesting.

I found it fascinating that the thing that had inspired me just a few days earlier was actually a lot like me: neither of us want to miss all the fun, we don't like to "jump the gate" on a regular basis, and we're both afraid of children.