Cats need to have a safe place. A place where they can go and know that no one will bother them. Muffy’s favorite place is under our bed. She waits, rather impatiently, for me to make it every morning and immediately runs under to check my work when I’m done. She sleeps under it during the day and runs under it whenever the doorbell rings or I turn on the vicious-kitty-eating-monster (the vacuum). Sometimes she’ll come trotting back out when I call “All done, Muff!” And sometimes she decides that it’s a very comfortable place and a perfect time for a nap—then we don’t see her for a while.
When we moved she had a very difficult time. Her safe place wasn’t anymore. Her bed was the same but the carpet wasn’t—so things didn’t smell right or feel right. But she had to have a safe place to be in this “unsafe” house. The place she found that had the right feel to it was— under the covers! She would wait until I had made the bed and then when no one was looking (for some reason that was very important) she would burrow her way in—and she was sure that no one knew were she was—and that the big lump in the center of the bed didn’t give her away at all! As she has gotten more comfortable in the house she has made under the bed her own space again—and I don’t have to worry about her suffocating anymore.
Watching her reminds me that it’s important for people to have a safe place, too. Everyone needs a place were they can be alone—to think or to not think. A place that other people respect as Off Limits when occupied. We all need a place were we can regroup or calm down or talk to the Lord.
I think living together is a lot easier when we give each other some space—just like it becomes a lot easier for Muffy to live with giants-with-strange-habits because of her space!