Tayari's Blog: Bathing The Cat: A Metaphor
Posted by TayariJones on January 2, 2007 01:08 PM
Filed under
The Writing Life
Over the New Year's holiday my cat, Johnny Baby, was banished to the 
animal hotel. (We had an allergic house guest.) Anyway, he came home in a rather malodorous condition. My first thought was to just let him air out, but after a few minutes, it became clear: Johnny Baby needed a bath.
Cats don't like to be bathed and people don't like to bathe them, but sometimes, you just have to do what you have to do. Procrastinating, I checked my email where I received a message from Jafari
Today's Daily Word
My Year: This new year marks a fresh start for me.
I considered bathing myself as a symbolic act, but I realised that bathing the cat was closer to the real work that has to be done.
As we jump into the new year, let's figure out what needs cleaning in our lives so we can get our writing off on the right foot. It's won't be easy. I had to drag Johnny Baby out from under the bed to even get him in the sink. I had to ask my mother for help, as washing a cat is a two person job. (You have to realise you can't go it alone.) Then, there is just the element of hard work. Scrubbing a cat is manual labor, no art to it. Just wet and dirty and a little bit dangerous. Finally, we blew him dry which he didn't like one bit. Now this is important. Cats hate to get wet. We were drying him and he fought that even harder. The message: relax and accept the balm. Sometimes it takes a moment to know when you've got a good thing. And finally, there is the maintenance issue. As soon as we got him all clean and dry, he started licking himself. Although the point of the bath was for me to teach him a lesson, at the final step he reminded me of something crucial. It's not enough just to clean up your act. Once you get it together, you have to keep it together.
More pics here.
![[divider]](http://www.tayarijones.com/images/divider.jpg)
There are 2 comments on "Bathing The Cat: A Metaphor". If you'd like to leave a comment, click here to jump down to the comments entry form.
Comment #1, by carleen ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.tayarijones.com/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
Johnny Baby looks like my cat Vishnu, except Vishnu has a pink nose. Vishnu LOVES water, but still bathing him would be impossible. You're strong! :-)
January 3, 2007 11:33 AM
Comment #2, by Ladylee
Now that was funny! If I tried to bathe Oscar Tyrone he would scratch my eyes out, LOL! (Check out his "feisty" pic and "shell-shocked" pic on my current post. Those are the looks I would have gotten!) I would still be nursing my injuries right now! Johnny Baby looked rather calm during that experience!
What an exceptional metaphor you found in this whole experience... It's one thing to obtain, but doggonit, it's a whole nother issha to maintain... Not only pertains to writing, but to so many other facets of our lives.
Really though...
I really needed this one...
Good thought-provoking post as always:)
January 3, 2007 11:37 AM