by Jay Hiller, December 8, 2022
Photo by Hannah Lim on Unsplash
Seven years ago, I had a stray cat named Luna. I fed her every day for about 6 months before she disappeared. I paid a little girl on the street to feed her when I went on vacation and my husband built her a shelter in our backyard when it started to get cold. She was suspicious of me for a long time and about a month before she disappeared she approached me and let me pet her. I loved Luna.
Today my dogs, Barney and Tessy greeted me with a lot of enthusiasm when I came home from work. Barney put his head on my shoulder when I was on the couch reading. He’s usually aloof with me. My husband is more his person. The weather in Austin is great tonight and while we were walking them, my husband asked, “What did we do before we got these dogs?” We probably watched too much Netflix.
For me, my pets, all of them, have been important for my emotional health in some way. When my last dog, Techie, passed away I realized that for 14 years my definition of being alone had really meant being alone with Techie.
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