I had not exactly forgotten how lovely it is to have a cat in the house, but it has, admittedly, been a VERY long time. We were forced to give our 2 Swedish cats away only about a year after we adopted them, when Martin was only a few months old, because Anders’ asthma had progressed to the point of dangerous on their account.
Today, receiving Hanna was the last thing on a very long list of Things To Do, and much the most anticipated. Both the kids had school. Karin had swimming and Music-play group. Martin had music and then piano lessons. I had work with many meetings. At 4 p.m. Martin and I met with his teacher for his half-year conference and then we raced home to grab the bags of toys we had packed up for the daycare and back again to drop them off. Then we went to McDonald’s for dinner since it was halfway to Karin’s karate class. I was realizing that I haven’t eaten at McDonald’s in probably a year and a half, if not more. At least I can’t remember the last time I ate there. Eating there tonight, I realized why. The fries are ungodly good but otherwise: meh. And YEESH what a lot of loud rugrats there were; the place was simply crawling with the under-8 crowd and dozens of pairs of harried looking parents.
Anyway, Martin and I dropped Karin off and then went for a walk around the wooded jogging ring that I discovered last year. It was actually the first time I’ve walked it since last fall because it’s been so dark in the evenings that I didn’t feel confident about walking there (despite it being perfectly safe here in Sweden)…mostly because I remembered it as not being the most level of paths and I was worried about my weak ankle. Much to my delight, Martin and I found that it had apparently been freshly leveled and paved down with sand and we spent a very happy 40 minutes walking it three times round in the chilly wind, talking up a storm the whole time.
Then we picked up Karin and raced home just in time to meet Geena unloading cat paraphernalia at our door. Yay! We have a cat! Hanna spent the first 2 hours simply scurrying about checking everything out and poking her nose into every nook and cranny. The kids spent 15 minutes in the moose bathroom with her, where her sandbox has been placed, so she’d be familiar with the room. She’s eaten a quick snack from her food bowl and she’s been up on every bed and shelf exploring. She’s even deigned to play with both me and the children, though she hasn’t sat still for very long.
This is Hanna, up on Martin’s loft bed. She got up there all by herself. From the bookshelf to the top of the boombox to a light-footed leap over the railing. I’m thrilled beyond words to have a 6-day kitty fix. Thanks for entrusting us with your baby, Geena & Björn!
