Are we going to get a cat?

Two years have passed since there were no cats in our home.
My partner has started thinking about wanting to have a cat again.

At a pet shop we happened to find at the shopping center we visited today,
he was captivated by a Russian Blue kitten that was there.

But I am not nodding in agreement.

Nineteen years ago,
the day Scottish Fold brothers came to us,

even though the two three-month-old kittens still needed training,
I was furious when they had accidents on the sheets,
I was disliked by them when I tried to force them to be held,
and I complained about the vet bills that were more than I imagined.

I was in a bad mood ever since the kittens arrived!
If things keep going like this, I'm going to take the cats and go back to my parents' house.
Thinking that, every time something happened,
I protected the cats.

A few months later, the cats grew up, stopped causing mischief,
and once they started just sleeping all day long,
we gradually got used to each other,
and the cats became an indispensable part of our home.

He completely doted on them.

Needless to say, the loss when they passed away one after another was immense.

This 20-year experience also changed him in some ways.

But,
the last time we had cats, we were in our 40s.
Now, we are in our 60s.

Considering the lifespan of a cat, we need to have the imagination for the next 20 years.

My opportunistic partner
says, "It'll be fine,"
and thinks on the bright side.

That part of him really hasn't changed.

What if we get sick, what if we develop dementia, what if we die first?
If you are going to keep an animal in your 60s,
you have to face the risks that lie ahead.

That is why I cannot easily get a cat.
Not until I have thought, and thought, and thought it through completely.

Because the one who wants a cat even more than you do
is me.