Ch-ch-ch-changes

Wedding photography is a lot of work.

I push myself through the actual day on a mixture of caffeine and adrenaline, and then the next day I am a lump of pudding, completely exhausted.  I used to think it was a hangover from imbibing too much caffeine when I usually don’t drink that much, but this past Saturday cinched it: it’s just exhaustion.  I hardly had any caffeine on Saturday, and I didn’t do nuffink on Sunday at all.  Except some laundry and grocery shopping and Tracy and I went out for buffet lunch at the Indian restaurant.  But nuffink else.

But the wedding went very well on Saturday, and I have no other photography commitments in the next few weeks, so I have plenty of time to get all caught up on everything I owe everybody.

Except, of course, I don’t have that much time.  Less than two weeks until Tracy’s moving day!  Less than three weeks until she and I are not living together anymore!  Less than three weeks until the cats move out!

Poor cats, having to pack up their little suitcases and kibble dishes, trundling off into the great beyond.  I’ve found myself using that line in the past few months, “the cats are moving out!”  As though they’re going all on their own, but that’s not true.  Martha the dog will be very sad to see them go.  I am wondering if I will end up adopting a second dog before July is out, just to have company for Martha.  Dogs shouldn’t be alone, but two dogs is a lot more than one dog.  Two dogs is double the number of one dog!

No, I don’t know if I’m adopting another dog.  I’m thinking about it, but I haven’t made up my mind.  Some of my family members think that Martha is better as an only dog, and others think I should get a cat, but I’ve had enough of cats for right now.  Litter boxes and litter in my bed, hair all over everything (I can’t even sit down in my house if I’m wearing black, and I’m always wearing black), furniture destroyed by claws.  I’m looking forward to opening the sliding doors and leaving them open so that Martha can trot in and out as she pleases, until I’m covered in mosquito bites just from watching an hour of television on my sofa.

Oh, I say this and I feel bad, because I do love the cats.  Sam, the one-eyed tiger-striped weirdo that Tracy brought home in September 2007, is just a sweetheart.  He climbs up to snuggle with me on the couch for hours, but forgets where we are at 4am, and cries in the kitchen because he’s lonely.  Mackey spends all of his nights next to me.  He is rarely to be seen outside the bedrooms most days, because he hates the dog, but requests lots of petting right before bedtime, during the night, and first thing in the morning.  Cody is scared of me, for no good reason except that I have stompier shoes than Tracy, and I also don’t spend quite as much time petting his belly.  They have all enjoyed the windows on our one-level house, where they can watch birds on a regular basis and move around to different beds depending on whether they want to sleep in the sun or in the shade.

I will miss them.

But I will not miss the cat litter in my bed.

The upholsterer will be done with the sofa sometime soon.  I got a sneak peek at the finished product last week when I had to buy more fabric (I was lucky and got it from the same lot, so no dye problems) and I think it looks pretty good, if maybe the color is a little lighter than I thought it would be.  No matter!  The color made the wood trim pop, and it’s certainly a big step up from the brown plaid.  It is going to look great.

Anyway, two weeks until moving day.  She’s done a lot of stuff and I think she’s mostly prepared for it, but it will be a major change.  For me, for her, for the cats, and for the dog- for all of us!