Morning Routine

It's 4 in the a.m. and Schroedinger the Cat sidles up to my bedside and meows, quietly at first, then more insistently.

I roll over to make room and pat the bed, inviting him up.

I do this twice, pat-pat-pat, pat-pat-pat*, after which he alights, circles once, tucks in his tail and settles in.

This buys me maybe 5-10 minutes, but then I stir, or breathe or something, and it's feeding time.**

- - -

We meet at the kitchen counter, exchange our good morning head butt (gently, of course) and I plop down a ball of raw turkey on his plate.

He eats.
I go back to bed.

Or to the Y.

Or maybe I blog.

And then there's a third and final ritual to complete.***

- - -

I sit at the computer while he sits at the door - plaintively meowing his request to be walked.****

He grows steadily louder until I invite him to join me.
I do this by making little kissey sounds while lightly drumming my fingers on the desk.

He jumps up.
We head butt.
I blog.

This is the result.

*Any lesser number of pats and he won't come up, resulting in more meows!
**I used to spray him with a water bottle to get a few more z's, but he eventually figured that out and would just go to the far end of the echo chamber that is our condo, and yeowl.
***I'm obviously up, and should therefore be interacting with the creature.
****Yes, I put him on a leash and walk him. Sometimes.