Pets and stress - another thought

I know that pets can be calming...

That was the situation for me until my cat, Sheba, went missing for 4 days. You bet I got stressed by that!

She reappeared at 1 AM this morning - mewing loudly to come in. She was clean, dry and well fed. [This was as opposed to summer of 2006 when she went missing for 21 days and came home hydrated but skinny...]

When she is not home at night the dog lies by the door waiting for her.....and he is stressed...

I know there are those that say keep her in - but have you ever tried to keep an outdoor cat in? If I do try that, she runs under the dog's body when I open a door for him.... and in the Summer out here - all my doors are always open during the day so I'd have to lock her up somewhere - and if you knew my cat - you'd know that would be stress for both us us : - ).

Besides - all the cats in our moorage are out - playing and hunting together...we live in a one main street neighborhood and everyone knows everyone and whose cat is who's - and we don't worry much about cars...

After I sent out an email to friends and neighbors this morning about Sheba's return - I got a return email about a cat I have known for going on 18 years and who has cancer...so I called my friend back East and we cried together about her cat who was diagnosed about 6 months ago and seemed to have been doing well.

She and I have cried about our dead and dying pets for the last 25 years and this was no different. The conversation was more on the lines of when do you decide to "play g-d" and how long and under what conditions do you wait and see. She waited and saw 6 months ago and he perked up.....does she wait again? Is he in pain? Is it fair for her to want a little more time with him?

Tough questions and a lot to cry about and of course a lot of stress

Stress and friends

Chatting with your friends is a good way to reduce stress. It's fun, you often smile, and having and talking to friends is good for whatever most ails you...including stress.

Go out for coffee [that's my thing] or a spot of tea, or a beer or glass of wine.

Socializing is good...food is good...wine is good.. people is good [sic :-)]

I work at home and I tend to work alone....so when I can, I invite a friend over for wine or a meal - or I accept such an invitation..and we are lucky in our neighborhood to have an adult hang-out... food, coffee, art gallery and a view! And all I have to do is walk up the ramp.

But it's closed on Monday and Tuesday and so on those days - sigh...like today..I get more work done [lol]

Summer, friends, etc.

Having my son around and my schedule off a bit took some getting used to. Now we are both doing our own thing. He is working, playing and generally enjoying this part of the country - he'd never been here for more than a few days.

He's made new friends and caught up with some he knew from DC who now live out here. It made me stop and think again of friends. I stayed in touch with only one childhood friend - but she stayed in touch with others - so now some of us - the regular emailing types are back in touch.

I am in more frequent contact with friends from D.C. and a few from Vermont - but most from high school, college and graduate school days are gone. Sometimes I go onto the Internet doing searches and have found one or two but statistics say that "we" do not use the Internet as much as others - so are we never to get back in touch? I hope not...Many of my friends have moved around so it's hard to know where to look.

Hopefully some day we will all meet up here on the blog : - friends) or in general cyberspace.

But we all need friends - they keep us healthy - so if you lost contact with some from the past -find them - and also make new ones wherever you are.