Generosity Saved the Cat

We had a fairly busy day yesterday. We drove about an hour to retrieve our camper. This is only the second time I’ve tried to park it in our narrow driveway. It actually went better this time. I won’t say it was without incident. It took me a few tries before I got it where I wanted it. It’s all set up and the fridge is on so we can have a little more food delivered if we need to.

Lion had some work to do and I puttered around the house. We were both pretty tired. I made dinner while he took a shower. While I was cleaning up after dinner, I noticed he hadn’t put the coffee pot together. I decided to be generous and remind him. Between not sleeping, getting the news that he’ll soon be furloughed and venturing out for the first time in a month, I figured he didn’t need to be punished. He said he knew he needed to do it but he’d been so tired and had so many things going on he hadn’t done it yet. He promised to do it while I was showering.

At that point it didn’t really matter to me if he did it or not. He hadn’t. I decided not to punish him. It was done. It’s not such a monumental task that I couldn’t have done it in the morning. There are times I tell him the food spilling rule is suspended if I realize it’s a meal that he can’t help but make a mess. That’s the thing with our rules. We deal with his transgressions and we move on. I don’t keep poking at him about doing it. We do joke about it sometimes, but I would never be mean about it. Salsa has a way of jumping onto his shirt. He knows it. I know it. It’s sort of funny. I may tell him to be careful when we sit down in a Mexican restaurant but it’s not mean. It’s not like we’re at a bar and I tell him not to get drunk like he did last time when he made a fool of himself with the waitress. (That never happened. Just an example.)

I try to be reasonable with the rules. I’m sure Lion thinks I’m too lenient. I knew Lion hadn’t had his coffee break yesterday. We were getting the camper. I knew he was working most of the afternoon. I knew he was tired. What would have been gained by punishing him? It wouldn’t have made me feel any better. It wouldn’t have made him feel any better. If I can’t make decisions like that then what’s the point of being in charge?

Today is another matter. He took a sleeping pill last night and got a decent amount of sleep. I think he’s actually napping right now. It’s not a workday. We aren’t going anywhere. I won’t be so generous about the coffee pot today. [Lion — After I woke up (at nearly noon) got washed and shaved, the first thing I did was prepare the coffeepot for tomorrow morning. Mrs. Lion is let me know that she is not in a charitable mood today.]