From + The + Vault: Choosing Between Dad and a Cat

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From + The + Vault are posts originally shared around the interwebs. Thanks to the magic of the Internet Archive Wayback Machine, I can reshare from an old www.reyes-chow.com, Typepad, my Moderator Blog, SF Gate City Brights, The Huffington Post, and Patheos.

Originally posted on December 21, 2007 on my personal blog (old graphics still in place). It has been lightly edited, and many of the original links are dead.

My oldest is cat-sitting for a friend and is so excited as she gets in some small way to have a cat. You see, I am allergic to the cats. I love them and would love to have one, but the whole sneezy, puffed-eyed look just doesn't do it.

The funniest cat episode went something like this. When Eldest was about 4 or 5 she seriously wanted to get a cat, but knew that I was allergic. Not understanding that one day she would not live with her parents, she asked Robin.

"Mom, when dad dies, can we get a cat?"

Priceless.

We even tried to tell her that one day she would move out. She was not having any. She was going to live with us forever and would just have to wait until I died to have her pet.

All three have pretty much accepted that cats will have to wait until independence, but just in case I meet some untimely end and a bunch of felines show up at our house, you will know who to blame.