Maybe We'll Get a Cat

Or not! So today, I go to pick up Mr. Grocery Bagger from work and he gets in the van very excited about something he learned at work today. If he starts to work full-time (remember we are struggling to get him there 9 hours a week right now), then he is eligible for benefits. I am thinking, "He has private insurance through his father's work, he gets Medicaid, and he gets SSI, what other benefits does he need?" I guess I just wasn't thinking. Of course, the obvious benefit that we all ask about when starting a new job - Pet Insurance!

He goes on to tell me that it's only around $9 a month, and any time he has to take his pet to the vet, it covers "most" of the bill. He only will have to pay $30 for vaccinations and then he can take his pet in for accidents, or injuries, or illness or whatever else might happen.

I'm just nodding along, like "yeah, whatever" and he says, "So I think I'll get a cat." Hmmm, he lives in a home with two other gentlemen (one of whom has VERY little tolerance for animals and has been known to punch holes in walls and attack people - who knows what he would do with a screeching cat.) He also has what has to be the nastiest room ever. I am not a big fan of cats, but bless the heart of the one who had to share that room with him! And he has to get a full-time job to even have this "benefit" about which he is so excited. So I can pretty much say with full certainty, there is no cat in our future. But, we'll just let him live in this little pipe dream of his for a while.

The whole conversation did remind us of a recent visit to his physician. The doctor flipped through his notes and said, "I see you have volunteered at the Humane Society. Are you still doing that?" And the response was something nobody in the room will ever forget. It was something along the lines of "No, see they asked me to leave after I killed that cat. But you know it was totally an accident. It could have happened to anybody." We didn't ask for more details. Some things you are just better off not knowing. We do take some comfort in knowing that even if all the other little pieces fell into place, pigs would fly before even the local animal shelter would allow him to adopt one of their animals.