Life With Boys

Life with boys … the one where the cat goes to college … going from being a big fish in a small pond to being a guppy in the vast college ocean has not been an easy adjustment for the boy … somewhere between catching and dealing with COVID within the first few weeks of the semester … witnessing the shiny social media profiles of friends who were immediately finding their way … the realities of true academic rigor … and the overachieving ear/sinus infection … the boy realized he needed more assistance than was provided by the campus resources … he suggested looking into an emotional support animal …

It is so hard to be away from your kiddo when they are struggling, so I said I would support him if he did all the legwork … thinking, of course, that he would see the giant list of steps and give up … clearly, he learned a thing or two becoming an Eagle Scout because he completed all the paperwork … created a detailed roommate agreement … went to all of the early morning mandatory meetings with at least five university officials … and after about two months of run around he got the approval … and during this process, he also had to find an allergist in Ames for comprehensive allergy tests that confirmed he is also allergic to cats (yes, he grew up with cats) and will need shots …

In the meantime, there were many middle-of-the-night texts with photos of hypoallergenic cats … solutions for the best food and breeds … and lots of logistical questions … he tracked down a cat he thought would be a perfect fit … it was pretty relaxed and hypoallergenic …and they were willing to ship it (Ship a cat? Hang on) … that is when I asked for more information … a few hours later, he let me know the offer was a scam … and I asked how did he find out? … he asked for a photo of the cat with a current newspaper … apparently they did not like the proof of life request …

Once he came home for Thanksgiving, he started to prowl the shelters … somehow during the search, he found a kitten on Craigslist … he convinced two friends to make the 5-hour roundtrip drive to go collect the cat … at midnight on Sunday … because there was nothing suspect about a midnight kitten transaction …

And that is how Appa arrived in our lives … they seem to be settling in well … you just never know what the boy might accomplish when he sets his mind to it … as long as it is good and not evil, I think we will be ok …