That would also get a thousand likes on AO3.

I had SO MUCH prosciutto and asiago. And dream!Tim asked if we needed to rent a U-Haul to bring all the books home.

One of my friends has been giving me a hard sell about adopting one or two kittens from a particular litter out in the town of Tomales. Her favorite most special cat ever came from the same Farm.

Lily cat *is* a cat that should have another cat friend. Java couldn't have cared less if there were other cats in the house or not, but Lily has always been with another cat.

After 6 months of dealing with Java's diabetes, where I had to cancel or change every plan that I had so that I would always be at home between 7-8 a.m. and p.m. to test his blood glucose​ and shoot insulin.... I really would like to travel, even just get away for a couple of days. For sure do something this summer again, PNW if nothing else.

I told her no, that it wouldn't be fair to get a kitten and then go away. I woke up this morning and looked at Lily and wondered if I should.

Java, I understand that. We decided after last year's vacation that, if Kato was still around this summer, we weren't going to take an out-of-town vacation, because leaving him -- even with our excellent pet-sitter who came 4 times a day for 45-minute visits -- was very hard on him.

(As it turns out, even though Kato is gone now, we can't take vacation because Tim has to have foot surgery and needs his vacation time because he has to be off work for 2 weeks after the surgery.)

We are selling out condo in CA and received an offer for $25,000 lower than listing price (as well as one for full price). The woman wrote the nicest letter explaining her offer and praising our home and I wish we could sell it to her. Feeling guilty about it as financially we could do it, but I just can't justify taking that much money out of my family's savings. Sucks.

ETA: I was going to change "out" to "our" but "selling out" is kinda how I'm feeling so I'm going with Freudian slip.

Hugs all round.

I've certainly altered many life plans because of my animal children. As with my human kids it is a balance of their good and mine. Often a struggle.

Glam, 25K is a lot of money and I get the guilt, but your family does have to come first here.

I told her no, that it wouldn't be fair to get a kitten and then go away. I woke up this morning and looked at Lily and wondered if I should.

Java, I got Oz five months after my cat Pico died because I felt like my other cat was lonely when I left her. I wasn't ready. Oz turned out to have some major behaviourial issues. Between those two things, it took a long time for me to bond with him, and I regretted getting him for the longest time. I think it's best to go with how you feel and wait.

As much as I adore Oz now, I make wait a while before I get another pet when he is gone.

I really, REALLY want another dog. Like, yesterday. But I suspect I'm trying to fill the Kato-shaped hole in my heart. And Tim is very much not ready for a new dog, nor do we have the time and energy to devote to a new dog anyway, while we're wrangling things with his dad being in assisted living.

But I still want a dog, dang it.

Can you counter offer with something you can live with?

Steph, maybe look into fostering?

Well, the biggest issue is that too much of our time and emotional energy right now is going towards Tim's dad. That isn't likely to change any time soon, so we can put getting another dog on hold. And I can live with that. In the meantime, Slinky gets to be the sole recipient of all my pet affection, which she alternately loves and flees from.