Meet My Family
Hi everyone and thanks for coming by.
I wanted to take a second and introduce the two souls I share my life with. One's furrier than the other but I'll let you figure out which one I mean.
The feline is Peter Parker, or just Parker. Or Parker-Doobins, Doobins-Amoobins, Stink, etc. He's about 8 and was adopted at 15 weeks from a local organization that found him, his 6 siblings and emaciated momma in a box. Though he was found by Faithful Friends, I credit him with finding me. I hadn't planned on adopting a cat. I already had several pets at that time and an ex who insisted upon collecting more. But Parker was too much to resist, so he joined to menagerie in due time.
And when that ex became an ex, he relocated the other animals and insisted upon taking Parker, too. It was the first fight we'd had that I won without tears. Parker stayed with me. And thank goodness, because he was the reason I kept going when I was alone, scared and overwhelmed.
The human is Ed, my husband. His story of finding me isn't that much different than the cat's, to be honest. He just appeared when I needed him most, when I would've never asked for another person to take care of. I barely had myself under control. I was at a job I wasn't passionate about, living in a home filled with miserable memories and surrounded by dreams I couldn't figure out how to materialize. Then he swooped in and started picking up the pieces without me realizing what he was doing. I didn't ask for help, I didn't expect help and certainly didn't want to owe anyone else for anything, but I learned that partnership isn't one side helping the other for a while then trading off when needed, as I'd previously thought. Partnership is thoughtless, innate consideration, without definable action. It's not a choice or a verb. It's passive, like an automatic door swinging open when you approach. It's not a conscious give and take; more like the sensation of knowing someone has your back and won't need to be asked to take down your enemy.
And that new knowledge of what being a partner truly is, and the support I'd needed for a long time, allowed me to finally put Second's stories into words. Their relationships are much the same as my own, with partnership at their core, so the women's work won't be diminished and they aren't made to feel dependent. Rather, they proceed and succeed easier with new comrades at their back.
And so can you. Though we choose to go alone, no one needs to be. Not everyone chooses happiness for themselves, but it's always a possibility. Sometimes it finds you. Just be willing to take it before it sweeps away for good.
