I had quite an epiphany this weekend, all brought about by a pet gate. (Sometimes it doesn’t take much.) I’m going to tell the story, and you can feel free to let me know at what point you get it. I can assure you, it will be about three years and 364 days before I got it.
So, I’ve missed the fireplace in my Warrensburg home desperately since moving to Columbia, and I finally decided to remedy that situation (in as simple and inexpensive way possible) by purchasing this. I decided to spend the money from my adjunct teaching gig on something I could enjoy during my Christmas break from said gig. (Side note…I haven’t actually been paid for this gig yet, but whatever. Building the ship as we’re sailing.)
To make this happen, I had to do something else with this monstrosity first. I can’t quite bear to part with it yet, and I thought it might be a good way to store my craft supplies so they’re not all over the place. So I needed it moved to the back bedroom.
Well, ummm…it didn’t fit. Like the angle of the hallway and the doorway was such that I couldn’t physically get the thing into the room without taking it apart.
So I decided to put it in the cats’ room. (Yes, my cats have their own room. Don’t judge me.) It’s gone from being an entertainment center to the world’s largest wooden cat perch. With doors.
Okay, you’re with me so far? Good.
To move it into the cats’ room, I had to remove this gate from the doorway. See, in the Warrensburg house, there was a partially finished basement. I had a cat door in the basement door, so the cats basically “lived” in the basement and came up to visit when they wanted. Then when Rudy decided to try to eat them, they ran downstairs. Daisy likes cats. Beavis was essentially Daisy’s cat. Rudy also likes cats. With some fava beans and a nice Chianti.
This house has no such basement. But I had this brilliant idea to buy this pet gate and put it across the doorway of the cats’ room. I’d open that little door, and we could be back to our usual system, yes?
Okay, here’s the deal with this here gate. The first time I opened the little cat door, all parties involved realized Rudy fits through the door. Rudy loved this development. The cats didn’t so much love it, and neither did I.
So, okay, we won’t use the little door in that way. But still, I can open the cats’ room door, and they can still see out and be a part of life in the Robison household, and everyone stays safe.
Until Beavis showed me how he can jump the gate. And how he also could not figure out how to get away from Rudy so he could jump back over the gate to safety. Charlie cannot jump the gate. He’s too fat. Or too lazy. Or not smart enough. Or, he just chooses not to. Probably that.
Then Nut came along and showed me she could jump the gate. And she liked to jump the gate. And she didn’t understand that she should not jump the gate if Rudy was present.
So, the new rule became, do not open the door-door under any circumstances, unless the dogs are outside or otherwise unable to get to the cats. I explained this rule in excruciating detail to anyone who pet-sat or otherwise visited my home for any length of time.
Thus went my cat-dog-human existence for about four years. Need to feed cats? Put dogs outside. Open gate. Open door. Feed cats. Make sure cats are back inside room before closing gate and door. Let dogs back inside.
Oh, did I mention? This gate has a lovely child-proof mechanism which essentially requires two hands to operate. Or one fairly dexterous hand. So, you know, when you’re filling the water bowl and go to open the gate, you spill half the water. Oh, and if you’re carrying a 38 pound package of cat litter, you’d better be able to balance it while you open the gate.
Also…see that bar across the bottom? Did you say you wanted to vacuum in the cats’ room? Like vacuum up all the litter they’ve tracked, the fur they’ve shed, and the carpet shreds from the scratching post? Yeah. You’re gonna have to lift the vacuum over that thing.
So, I got my furniture moved where it’s going to live now, and I went to put the gate back up. And it hit me:
Wait. I can’t open this little cat door unless the dogs are outside. And I can’t open the bedroom door if the dogs are inside either, because the cat can jump the gate. So…I only ever open the door when I’m also opening the gate, because the cats can come out then.
You got it yet?
The gate serves No. Purpose. Whatsoever.
Not only does the gate serve no purpose, but it’s also been making my life harder for four years. For no reason.
I had to sit down for a minute. And it nagged in my brain all evening. The simple fact that this gate served no purpose, didn’t need to be there at all, and was causing me headaches that were completely unnecessary, yet I’d accepted it as fact for four years. It blew my mind.
It’s as plain as the nose on Miss Nut’s furry face, and yet, I couldn’t see it.
Once I got it, I couldn’t un-get it. And then I couldn’t stop wondering, what else in my life is that obvious and so completely un-gotten by me? What else am I just accepting as fact despite evidence that it isn’t? What else am I putting up with day in and day out, thinking that’s just the way it is, when in reality, it isn’t that way at all?!
Gah! I like to think I’m a smart woman. Yet this simple fact eluded me for years. What else am I missing? What else in my life could be made so much easier, if only I’d see the cute pink nose on the fluffy cat staring at me?
Head spinning.