Cuddle Bug Boys

Originally, this blog wasn't supposed to be just about the Big Important Things that happened to Da Buddies and us.  It was supposed to be about the everyday interactions that made our lives together meaningful and our love for each other strong.  Or, more often, it was supposed to be about the stuff so silly or weird that we couldn't possibly make this stuff up.

Today, I'm getting back to my roots, so to speak.  Today, I'm going to talk about cuddling.  

Cuddling, in previous blogs, was more of a given.  Wanda was a champion cuddler.  Otto came in a close second, and while Mister wasn't good at getting super-duper close when he cuddled, he still did it in his own sweet way--usually lying on my pillow keeping watch over me.

This doesn't happen as much with this crew.  Sure, Reggie still appreciates a good cuddle, and spend most every night asleep between Sean and me, making sure he's giving us each equal attention.  But it's not the status quo in the household anymore, the way it used to be.  And in some ways, that makes me sad.

But one of the mysteries of sharing our lives with furry creatures is that you don't get to pick and choose what qualities you want them to have.  I don't get to dictate that this cat is going to be cuddly or that one will want to ride in the stroller.  They have their own preferences, their own personalities, and we all have to work together to make sure that we're respectful of each others' needs and desires.

Which is why a night like last night was so particularly meaningful for me.  I may have mentioned in a previous post that one of the reasons we were "foster failures" with Cooper is because the first night he stayed in our home, he slept on my head.  Illustration below:  

 The thing is, this is not Cooper's default setting.  More often than not, Cooper sleeps in the living room on one of his toys, or on a piece of furniture in the living room, or, if he's really feeling close to us, the top of the dresser in our bedroom.  It makes me sad sometimes that he's not really "into" cuddling, but I also understand that he's doing what he wants to do--playing, having fun, being close to us, but not necessarily glued right to us all the time.  He's being Cooper.

So it was a gratifying suprise last night when I woke up to find him in the position above again.  He was sleeping on my head and had one paw slung casually across my throat.  He was purring softly, so I must have woken him up when I woke up.  I skritched him on the head, smiled, and went back to sleep.  I woke up a few more times and he was still there--he had shifted around a few times but was still on my pillow, still purring, still cuddling.

Meanwhile, Reggie decided to get into the action.  He carefully arranged himself on my right side, put his head on my chest and also slung an arm over protectively.  I couldn't believe my good fortune.  It was a most decidedly cuddly love nest.  

As with all good things, it had to come to an end when I had to get up for a minute.  I went to look for Zelda, who was asleep in the chair outside our bedroom door.  I pressed my luck by picking up her sleepy little body and bringing her in to sleep with us, too.  She'd had a rough day because we'd had overnight guests in the house and she'd spent the whole day hiding in the closet.  I wanted her to feel like she was part of our snuggle-pile.  Unfortunately, as soon as I brought her to the bed, Cooper decided he'd had enough and marched off the bed via the headboard.  

It was still a double cuddle for the record books.  Somehow it's even sweeter because it's not something that happens every day.  I guess sometimes even Cooper needs to cuddle up to his Big Buddy Girl.  At least I still have Reggie for the day-to-day cuddle fixes.  Here's hoping we get to keep him (and them all) for a really long time.