Saturday, January 19, 2008
Things we need
Today has been a good catching up day, and I needed it. STUFF just kept piling up all last week, insisting it really HAD to get done. You know how it is.
I don't think I mentioned it, but we didn't get to take Sandy in to be spayed last Tuesday. I was up and ready to do it, but Mrs. Vet (the office manager) called to ask if we could postpone a week. Seems Dr. Vet had suddenly come down with a bad case of being on crutches. He was insisting he was fine; she thought he should stay off his feet as instructed. You probably know how that is, too.
Of course I agreed to reschedule. As if in karmic reward for my thoughtiness, Sandy suddenly decided she didn't want to be in heat after all. So THAT worked out okay.
Even better, Mike stopped his reflexive questioning, "What's WRONG with my cat?? WHY does she want a boyfriend???" He likes to go over new information from every possible angle, you see, but his means of starting a conversation is to start from the familiar and ask a question he feels comfortable with. Over and over and over and....
But I finally thought to bring up the old classic line that distinguishes between Wants and Needs: '...like a fish needs a bicycle.' "A fish doesn't NEED a bicycle," I explained, "even though she might WANT one very much."
He thought about this, then asked, "What if it was a boy fish?"
For a boy fish, we decided, he might WANT but not NEED a motorcycle. And then Mike was content.
I don't think I mentioned it, but we didn't get to take Sandy in to be spayed last Tuesday. I was up and ready to do it, but Mrs. Vet (the office manager) called to ask if we could postpone a week. Seems Dr. Vet had suddenly come down with a bad case of being on crutches. He was insisting he was fine; she thought he should stay off his feet as instructed. You probably know how that is, too.
Of course I agreed to reschedule. As if in karmic reward for my thoughtiness, Sandy suddenly decided she didn't want to be in heat after all. So THAT worked out okay.
Even better, Mike stopped his reflexive questioning, "What's WRONG with my cat?? WHY does she want a boyfriend???" He likes to go over new information from every possible angle, you see, but his means of starting a conversation is to start from the familiar and ask a question he feels comfortable with. Over and over and over and....
But I finally thought to bring up the old classic line that distinguishes between Wants and Needs: '...like a fish needs a bicycle.' "A fish doesn't NEED a bicycle," I explained, "even though she might WANT one very much."
He thought about this, then asked, "What if it was a boy fish?"
For a boy fish, we decided, he might WANT but not NEED a motorcycle. And then Mike was content.
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