The Move

By Harry

At the age of three, I consider myself a fairly well travelled cat. I was born in a posh apartment in Manhattan, lived in two different D.C. neighborhoods, and have taken several trips to West Virginia to visit my grandparents for the holidays. That said, I’m not a big fan of change, so when I found out we were moving to Brussels, I was a little nervous.

The experience could not have got off to a worse start. First, we moved into a hotel room in D.C., and I was locked in the bathroom whenever my humans went out because they were scared I would scratch the furniture or terrorize the maid. Whatever...I’m a very well behaved cat. One night, the fire alarm went off in the middle of the night, and I was evacuated in my carrier. There was no fire, but it was very scary, and my humans were grumpy the next day and gulping coffee. The only upside to the temporary living situation was that we all slept in the same bed, which meant that I was able to walk on them while they slept and wake them at odd hours by licking their faces. I think they appreciated it. One morning, Alex gave me a big squirt of some of this treat paste I like. It was uncharacteristically generous, and I realized why once I started to feel drowsy: I was drugged! Then, they stuffed me into my carrier, and we boarded a bus to the airport. It was my first time on an airplane, and I didn’t like it very much—my ears hurt a lot during the takeoff and landing, and I cried a little bit, but otherwise I was too scared to do anything but sleep. Eight hours later, we arrived in Brussels, and shortly thereafter, we were home.

Even though I was close to calling PETA during the move, I have to say, I really like Brussels. In addition to having a new identity as a sophisticated European cat, my humans and I have a much bigger apartment with a lot more room for me to run around and chase my toy mice. Here are some photos of my new digs:

Here I am in my new living room. Nice deck, huh? For some reason, my humans won't let me out there without this horrible, restrictive harness, so I mostly stay inside.

All my toys arrived in Brussels a few months after we did. This is one of my favorites.

The apartment has lots of good places for naps, including this cozy couch.

That's all for now. I'll write more later, hopefully with tales of a delicious turkey dinner!