To get you all up to speed, my parents left for France on Saturday. They asked me to stay home for the two weeks they are gone to take care of the animals. I said sure, I am a capable young adult, I have lived on my own for the last two years, plus it will be nice to not have my parents hovering around for a while. (They have really started to lose their minds, my father was literally walking around in his boxers muttering about how we have too many cats.)
I was not aware of how much attention our animals need until the morning they left when my mom gave me the list of animal upkeep. I'm not talking anything as simple as food, water, and shelter, I am well aware of what it takes to care for an animal. No no, there is a whole page of instruction on what animals get what medicine on what days and at what times, what times to let which animals in and out, what food to give them at what time...
I can't take it.
It takes up so much time of my day, I spend so much time thinking about what I have to do, preparing to do it, and then actually carrying out the care these animals actually need.
I also can see why my dad is going nuts. The cats just follow you around meowing because they want you to feed them, even if they have literally just been fed. I catch myself talking to them as if they can understand me.
For example, from this morning at 7 a.m.: "WHAT DO YOU WANT?!?!? I JUST FED YOU! HOW ARE YOU STILL HUNGRY?!?"
If you notice that I've lost my mind the next time you see me, take pity and humor me. It was the animals.
