Furry Inspirations

A couple of days ago, I saw a post on facebook asking "What do your pets do that inspires you?"  My list is growing, and now I'm wondering if I have a picture of each way the furballs do inspire me . . . and I apologize in advance to the non-cat fans; I love dogs, but don't have one right now.  I hope to adopt one in the near future, and will then be just as obsessive about photographing them.  I've had dogs in the past, but unfortunately, they were long before digital photography . . .

Let's start w/ the easiest one:  they love me (even when there's a bare spot at the bottom of the food bowl).

Bandit curled up next to me on the couch.

Pinkerton getting ready to do the head butt

They make me laugh (sometimes out loud).

Yawning, but he could be laughing at ME, too!

BIG yawn (and notice he has 2 sets of canine teeth ; baby ones hadn't fallen out yet).

They groom each other.

It only looks deadly; it really was a grooming session!

They play.

Can you find the live animal?  I heard him snoring, but it took me a little while to find him!

They like to pretend to be well behaved, especially when I've caught them wrestling.

How do these inspire me?  Love another opportunity to wax philosophical!

I'm inspired by their capacity to love.  Both of these boys were abandoned, and had every reason not to trust, let alone love human beings.  Yet they are both very affectionate with me, and each other.  Pinkerton is still very shy around strangers, but is getting better about it.  They haven't given up on humans, so I'd better not, either.

I'm inspired by the way they make me laugh.  Laughing always inspires me.  It makes me take myself so much less seriously.  It also gives me a better perspective of my flaws and shortcomings (there are plenty of them) - if I can't laugh at myself, I certainly shouldn't be laughing at others.

I'm inspired by the way they take care of each other (the grooming), and sometimes try to groom me.  Typically they groom themselves, but at least once a day, they groom each other.  Contrary to the pics above, Bandit does groom Pinkerton sometimes!  It reminds me that I should be finding something every day to do for someone else.

I'm inspired by the way they play, whether it's hiding from each other or pouncing on a toy.  They make their own fun.  They don't wait for me to bring home a new toy (not that I'd EVER have to buy another toy again) or toss a plastic bottle cap or straw on  the floor for them to play with.  They go to the toy tub (or more often where they left a stash of toys) and find something.  They don't expect me to entertain them, but we all have more fun when we're playing together.  This inspires me to do more fun things regularly and to include others in them.

I'm inspired by their "I'm just an innocent, cute little cat" look.  No, I don't usually believe it; they've often been up to something they shouldn't have been.  But, they are still my beastie boys and I love them.  They've accepted me with all of my flaws and love me in spite of them (although they probably think my biggest flaws are not being home enough and not keeping the food dish completely filled).  It's not hard to love these guys, but I'm not always happy with everything they do.  Yet another reminder to love the person, not get fixated on one little thing that angered or frustrated me.

Yeah, these boys are my four legged life lesson reminders.  Pretty awesome.  I think I'd best go spend some time playing with them now.