The men in my life.

Every night we go through the same routine. I pick Jimmy up and carry him into the bedroom, placing him gingerly on the end of the bed. He looks up at me, very concerned, and waits patiently while I brush my teeth and wash my face. When I finish and get into bed, he sits there for about 5 more minutes and then takes off. Sometimes he reappears in the night; sometimes he never comes back.

I tried to stop taking him to bed with me for a while. I'd just leave him wherever he was in the living room, figuring he'd rather be there anyway since he doesn't stay with me. It didn't work. He'd look at me all sad and confused, wondering why I had changed our routine. Even if it's a routine he doesn't care for, it's still the routine we have and deviating from it upsets him.

Once Jimmy leaves the bedroom, Milo comes in. He's almost as excited about bedtime as he is about showertime. He knows it's the one time of day that he can sit with me and I won't get up to get a drink or go to the bathroom. He has my full attention...at least, he has it until I'm too tired to continue petting him.

He lays beside me where the other pillow would normally be. He purrs and nuzzles me. If I get too lazy to pet him it's not a big deal. He'll rub his head on my hand or my arm or my face. I just have to sit still while he gets his rocks off.

In the morning, Milo wakes up when I wake up and follows me into the bathroom where he sits on the toilet and watches me shower. Most of the time he'll start walking around the edge of the shower making that wonderful little "merowp" sound he makes. I talk to him the whole time and put my hand on the shower curtain where he rubs up against it.

When I get out Jimmy runs into the bathroom, eager to take part in the morning love fest. As I towel off, Milo demands kisses. His kisses don't entail licking. I just pucker my lips and he leans forward to sniff them and then he says "merowp" and rubs up against my wet leg, leaving white hairs in his wake.

Jimmy waits patiently...sort of. He's patient for a bit and then it's that insistent and plaintive meow he does to make me feel bad for him. It works every time. I'll start petting him and he'll start purring and then he runs into the kitchen to make sure I know that he wants breakfast.

When I leave for the day, I tell them to behave themselves and when I come back I find them clamoring at the door for my attention.

Jimmy likes to be held and talked to or sung to. Milo doesn't want picked up but he loves to sit on your chest and tuck his head up under your chin. Jimmy is reflective and needy. Milo is haphazard and playful. Jimmy is smart. Milo isn't. Jimmy wants everything you have to eat. Milo is only interested in ham or tuna. Jimmy plays with a lobster named Fidel and a mouse named Garson. Milo plays by hitting Jimmy in the face when he's trying to sleep.

Ben was recently chatting up a hottie online and she started talking shit on cats. He closed the IM window and signed off. As he figured it, if you don't like cats then I'm not going to like you. And he's right.