The Scritcher Striketh

Sadistic? Or indulgent?

You decide.

I have been away from my Kansas City home for almost two months now...my "exile" has been tough, but I've managed to communicate with Hubby and the kids back home using all means of technology available to us - iPhones, Facebook, and emails....As frustrating as my absence has been, my family understand not only why it's happening, but also it's temporary-ness. I know. That's not a word. But you know what I mean. They know this won't last forever - and that soon, after my upcoming surgery, I'll be back in KC.

However...my "furry" children don't understand this. I have four furry children back home - three cats, and a dog. Hubby and I have very clear-cut responsibilities when it comes to the furry children...he is "The Feeder" and I am "The Scritcher." The animals have probably realized that although they are continuing to get their daily Kibble from "The Feeder" - their belly rubs and ear scritches have all but disappeared, with my absence. I can't exactly send them a text or an email explaining why "The Scritcher" has dropped off the face of the Earth - albeit temporary - and that frustrates me.

So, tonight...we did an experiment. While Hubby and I were talking on our iPhones, we activated "Facetime" - which is really just "Skype" for an iPhone. Hubby then put the camera on Cocoa, my little Shih Tzu, so that I could see my fur baby. Well. After not seeing my fur baby for almost two months, you can imagine how NUTSO I went on the phone....I went into full-blown baby-talk mode, which is how I talk to my fur babies (and doesn't everyone??), and of course, this drives Cocoa...CRAZY.

Poor Cocoa. She can hear The Scritcher's voice - but she can't see me. She's frantically looking everywhere in the room, and I can hear her whining, as she's trying to get a visual, and I'm not there....She went NUTS. It was almost laughable, to see her so determined to find me in that room...but it was almost sad. Poor baby.

Was I sadistic? Or was it indulgent?

So...isn't this rather pathetic? On a beautiful Friday night in Florida, I am conversing in baby-talk over a phone with my fur babies, who are a thousand miles away from me...and it's the highlight of my evening.

For what it's worth, we did this with the cats, as well...but really...my cats can ignore me when I'm practically standing on top of them and pulling their whiskers out hair by hair (not that I would ever do that), so ignoring me while I'm blabbering on an iPhone was nothing for them. All they need - or want - is their Kibble.

Sigh.