It has been a little over a year since we first got married. The great thing about our relationship is that we never fight. Most of the time he ends up backing down, but this time he doesn’t. Three weeks ago we got our first cat. She’s a sweet pitch-black kitten with the brightest green eyes.
The small apartment has had a lingering feeling of stress since getting our fur baby, Magic. At first, she was skittish, hiding under the bed at even the smallest noise. It took her a while to adjust to living with us but she is finally coming around.
My husband, Daniel, looks brooding on the outside but secretly is an animal lover. He was very supportive when I suggested the idea of adding a pet to our place.
When we first met when volunteering at the local animal shelter, we knew we would have many pets in our future together.
At the end of September with the air starting to chill and the leaves beginning to change color, we thought a spooky black cat would be the ideal addition to our home.
The great thing about having an animal is that we can dress them up for each holiday. With Magic being a black cat I thought the perfect idea would be to dress her up as a small bat with big black wings. But my husband seems to disagree. He believes Magic should be a Witch with a hat and a broomstick.
When we first started fighting, every time we were in the same room you could feel the tension, waiting for the other person to say something passive-aggressive first. Usually, we are attached at the hip so this was a large change in our relationship. Since this has never happened before, we had no idea how to navigate this conflict.
We were both sitting in the living area, on our phones when I spoke up, “This is so stupid, how can we solve this?”
We hear Magic meowing at our feet, so I pick her up. I see Daniel’s eyes light up with an idea, “What if we let her choose? I see videos online all the time of kittens picking their collar colors. That could work for her!”
A few minutes later, we write multiple costume ideas on small pieces of paper, fold them up, and throw them on the floor. Magic quickly rushes over and picks up one of the papers and happily trots away with it.
When I finally catch her she fights back wanting to keep her new trophy. Daniel unfolds the crumpled paper and reads, “A pumpkin?”
Two weeks later we all posed for a picture as two farmers with their little pumpkin.
