Why You Should Overcome Your Fears and Embrace Change: A True Story

By: Beth McIntire
Submitted: 2007-01-17 15:05:19
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My husband and I have an adorable 27-month-old toddler I'll call M. We also have three wonderful cats, whom I'll call GC (gray cat), BC (black cat) and BWC (black and white cat). We brought home BC first, followed a few months later by BWC and GC, all adopted as adults from a shelter. As is common with felines, our kitties enforced their own hierarchy, with BC on top, then BWC, then GC. GC always waited patiently for the others to finish eating before chowing down. She relinquished any petting she was getting if another cat moved in. She rarely occupied a lap. I assumed she just wasn't a lap cat, despite being very sociable and affectionate.

When we brought baby M home from the hospital, I encouraged the cats to sniff her and check her out. The colicky little human pretty much screamed around the clock her first four months of life. BC and BWC were put off by this at first, but GC, a very loudly vocal cat, must have thought this human was a kindred spirit. When M howled, GC chimed in. It was like a headache-inducing duet.

BC and BWC soon learned that they'd have to share mommy's lap with the little human for awhile. When M was an infant, I often had her on one side of my lap and a cat on the other, and GC hovering close by. When M learned to crawl, she amused the kitties by meowing, crawling around and nuzzling them, as if she were one of them. However, she alarmed BC and BWC when she started to walk upright and become more and more mobile. She wobbled toward them, arms outstretched, and they began to walk a wide swath around her. GC continued to stay close to where ever the little human was.

When M was about 18 months old, the family bought a larger house and moved. The cats had a short trip – about 5 miles – from the old house to the new one, and exited their carriers with understandable trepidation. BC and BWC looked around far enough to find the nearest bed, and hid under it for a few days, leaving only to eat and use the litter box. GC, on the other hand, explored the nearby bedroom, then started sniffing around the rest of the house. Hmmm, lots of nice windowsills, and more space for galloping around in the wee hours of the morning!

By the time BC and BWC summoned the courage to look around the new house, there was a new sheriff in town. GC had begun to eat first and demand her share of the petting. She started jumping onto my lap to sit on the newspaper while I tried to read it, which normally had been BC's job. Most of all, she cemented her role as top cat with the little human. Several months previous to this time, one of M's first words had been GC's real name. Now, GC stuck by M constantly. The big humans continuously reminded the little human not to ride the kitty, swat the kitty, grab kitty's tail, or yank kitty's fur. We demonstrated over and over again how to “pet the kitty.” GC has been getting lots and lots of petting, and loving all of it.

All three of our critters seem to have adjusted to the new house over the past year, and GC still sits atop the throne of kitty hierarchy. M is a happy, rambunctious toddler who makes a lot of noise. She's also learning to pet a kitty properly, and guess who gets all of M's petting. Since our cats don't go outdoors, our house is essentially their entire world. GC's ability to embrace changes in the form of a new baby human and then a new house enabled her to dominate her world. She went from last place to first.

Most of us want to hide under the nearest bed when faced with substantive change, especially when we have no control over the change. Sometimes, change blindsides us, like a cat being dropped inside a new house with all new surroundings. You may have noticed already that the most successful people are the ones who manage change most effectively, whether the change is a job loss, a new job, the serious illness of oneself or a loved one, the loss of an intimate partner, or any other stressful change.

GC still tussles with the other cats sometimes to retain her crown, despite weighing about 8 pounds to BC and BWC's 12 or 13 pounds each . I always knew there was something different about a cat who was not afraid of the vacuum cleaner monster, who put her front paws up on a bathtub filled with water and a small child, and who never took any flak from her fellow felines, despite her size and previous rank. However, I never suspected GC was bent on world domination.

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