Keeping Company with a Mutant Dog and Cunning Cat

My Christmas tree is still up. I'll take it down this weekend if I get an energy burst. In the meantime, if you were to get close to it, you would see long, white feathery stuff gracefully setting atop each artificial limb. Sort of like a snow effect. Very charming.

But upon closer inspection, you would realize that it is dog hair.

Our almost 15-year old terrier mutt, Jack the Wonder Dog, leaves a trail with every step. It's as though he has been exposed to radiation, causing handfuls of fur to fall out at his slightest movement. But he doesn't go bald. Like the X-Men, Jack has mutated and his special skill is that can blind you in an instant with flying fur, which his follicles immediately replace.

Our cat doesn't have any mad mutant skills. Well, maybe she does. This morning my husband found her behind the bar in our den, after she had completed amazing gymnastic feats to climb on top of the bar to steal her packet of kitty treats. She then batted the packet to the floor, where she was subsequently caught obsessively shredding the plastic to get to the contents. The manufacturers of kitty treats lace their recipes with powerful, addictive drugs. Do not try to tell me otherwise.

The mutant dog and cunning cat are my only source of company this week. My husband cannot break away from TV, and our son - home from college - spends his hours sleeping or out with his buddies.

Oh, I have plenty of things to do. Errands to run, closets to clean, piles of laundry awaiting attention. But the weather is dreary and I am in hibernation mode. I don't mind some quiet days before the new year, and before my husband's chemotherapy begins.

Yes, this is our lull week. The eye of the storm that follows Christmas and precedes the arrival of the new year. A new year that, for my family, will be characterized by long-term uncertainty as we battle cancer. Having grown up in the tropics, I know all about the eye of the storm. It's a welcome opportunity to catch your breath and batten down the hatches before all hell breaks loose again.

My family could certainly use some X-Men skills right now. But in the absence of mutant powers, we'll look to each other for strength to weather the storm.

And be assured that one hairy dog and cunning cat will play a big role in lifting our spirits. After all, they are a part of our family life and are quite practiced at keeping us company during the best and the worst of times.