the wait

Some of you may remember that even in the urban jungle of Tokyo, I trained and worked hard to enable my cats to go outside. And this was living on the 5th floor of an apartment complex with no gardens whatsoever.

My current living situation is a little better, but also similar. I live on the 3rd floor and there is a back door to a small garden through the garage on the ground level. I slowly had to train the cats again; at night, I open our front door, walk down to the garage, open the back door and let them out. Waka is still spooked by the various noises and now rarely ventures out, but Kats will whine at the door until I let him out and he'll run down ahead of me.

I leave both our front door and the garage back door ajar (thank you to my housemates who allow me to do this!!), and once the cats are home, I have to go down and close the garage door. I basically need to be waiting for them.

Most times, Kats stays out about an hour and comes back up. But every once in a while, something will perk his interest and he'll be away for 3 or even 4 hours.

Needless to say, I get worried. On the one hand, I'm happy for him to really spend time outdoors and explore all he wants. On the other hand, I can't wait to get him in my arms again. Every time, faithfully, he does come home and nudge me. I hug him immediately. I can't help but worry until he comes back, but the immense pleasure I have when I see him again is the reward.

Tonight Kats went out for a long time. I sat up waiting. Now he's back, and we'll all go to bed.

[my god, I am such a cat lady! At least Dav balances me out so I don't dedicate my whole life to them! Seriously, did you notice all the cat pictures I have by my desk in the previous post?? Click on the photo to see background details]