Like many New Yorkers, I was stuck at home during the huge snowstorm that hit the city just after Christmas. The streets were a mess, my car was buried, the subways weren’t running, and all the shops in my neighborhood (aside from the grocery store) were closed. I had no choice but to hunker down in my tiny, stuffy apartment with my cats.
I’d just gotten back from a stressful whirlwind trip to see family for the holidays. My to-do list was ten miles long. I was behind on so many things, and the forced entrenchment made me feel anxious. I was going stir crazy. I can’t do anything sitting here in this apartment, I thought.
I’d been bouncing off the walls for most of the morning when I gave up hope of getting anything done. I plopped down on the couch, and for the first time that day, took in my surroundings. Dean, my portly tuxedo cat, snoozed contendedly on a nearby mountain of blankets. Her sister, my lither tuxedo cat, Sal, was nosing around in a bag of opened Christmas gifts.
After a minute or so, Dean decided she’d had enough of napping on the couch, got up, and trotted into the bedroom. I decided to follow her. As soon as she got there, she did a scan of the room. Then she settled on her next napping destination, the fluffy comforter on my bed. I heard a swishing noise behind me and turned to see Sal engaged in heavy play with a catnip mouse. I looked back at Dean. She’d decided to groom herself instead of nap. I turned back to Sal. She had abandoned the mouse to search the wilds of my closet. Each time I turned my head, they were immersed in a different, and equally compelling (to them) activity.
This is their world, I thought. My small apartment is a huge world of wonder and enjoyment for them. It’s not a prison, like I’d made it out to be.
The rest of my day was much more productive. I took in my apartment as my cats do, finding amusements and discoveries in every nook and cranny. I explored the wilds of my closet with Sal, finding new spots to store things (and some things I forgot I had!). I helped Dean find her new napping spot on a window ledge I didn’t even know was there. I cleared myself off a workspace on a counter in my kitchen and made a cozy new office space.
At the end of the day, my fresh perspective gave me a day’s worth of productivity and fulfillment. And the next day, still stranded by snow closings and delays, I was overjoyed that I’d spend another day in my cats’ world.
—Jessica Bloustein
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Dean, napping happily as the snow falls outside. (Photo by Jessica Bloustein)
