The Empty Nest Syndrome
- 24/ 4/ 2014 <--Prev : Next-->
Most people wax lyrical about their pets, but I am waxing lyrical because we have NO pets...
Up until a couple of years ago, HeeHoo and I had four dogs and four cats, now we are reduced to one tiny little black cat of dubious peerage and of venerable age.
HeeHoo's family have always had a plethora of animals, some very exotic like Bush Babys, Impala and Guinea Fowl.
HeeHoos friend even had a baby rhinoceros which eventually got banished from the house as it was rubbing the wall paper off the walls whilst waltzing down the passage for meals!!
Our family was more traditional, we had bunnies, guinea pigs, white mice and cats and dogs.
Our family of animals, once we were married, was wide and diverse, indeed from the sublime to the ridiculous from Great Danes and Pointers to Toy Poms and Jack Russels. Two of the felines in the family arrived via Lufthansa from America, a legacy derived from sending one's offspring to the USA for University!!
It was a busy house in those days, our dogs and cats did not sleep in kennels, they slept on the beds, they would follow us from room to room devotedly. Bath time involved the Dane drinking the bubble bath, the pointer 'pointing' the bubbles and the two little ones jumping up gleefully hoping for the treat of a soapy arm appearing over the side of the bath.
The giant family bed was a mass of furry friends, babies and parents all vying for a piece of the same duvet!!
A dip in the pool involved a melee of pets all trying to get into the water to be with Mum and Dad and the Little People. The cats would even jump onto HeeHoo's bare shoulder, claws and all, to be a part of the action.
And so when the offspring drifted off to college, the family pets began to drift off too to the vagaries of old age. HeeHoo and I were left with grubby furniture, doggy footprint colour carpets and a big aching void in our hearts at the emptyness of the nest.
Gradually we laid down fluffy off-white carpeting and changed the murky brown lounge suite to pearly white and duck egg chintz. The duvets are pristine white now too, and the bed frill where the pointer used to rub herself, is in crisp ivory. This in no longer a pet friendly/child friendly house!! and I defy any of my offspring to send another puppy or kitty home for Granny and Grandpa to mind!!
Grandchildren? Now that's another story!!
