It is Time.

I felt it in my bones.

The birds were chirping. The sun was up. A warm breeze blew through the window.

She eyed me as I put on the coffee. I served her breakfast. She looked at me expectingly as I walked into the sunroom.

It was time.

I grabbed the key to the shed and walked out the backdoor. She watched me through the window. Her eyes were hungry.

I opened the shed and dragged it out. I heard her calling for me from inside. I carried it out through the backyard and put it on the deck. She was moaning now. Eager with expectation. Caught up in lust.

I opened the door and she ran past me into the mesh enclosure.

It was finally catio season.

***

“Something special happened this morning,” I whispered into my wife Katie’s ear.

Katie looked at me with disdain. She already knew what happened. Katie was watching out the window too.

Outside, Meowalicious pushed her nose up to the mesh walls of her outdoor sanctuary. Hurling herself towards rabbits she would never catch. Mewling at birds and squirrels. On the hunt, no matter how impossible the hunt was. Springtime had come for Meowalicious, and with it the endless tease of murdering the living creatures in our backyard.

Katie wasn’t pleased. She doesn’t enjoy the responsibility of remembering to check on Meowalicious after I put her in the cat. To be fair, I remind Katie often that this is her responsibility. Her eyes roll as she tells me I’m a grown man. Am I? Meowalicious loves Katie more than me, even after I place her on her catio.

The world isn’t fair.

***

A few days ago a blizzard came through the Midwest. Temperatures were in the single-digits and I was shoveling my driveway.

Today is 80 and sunny. Go figure.

“Can we put the air conditioning on?” I ask Katie. Katie threatens to file for divorce. She likes to be warm. I like to be cold.

I’m kidding. Katie has never threatened to divorce me, despite my antics. Maybe because of my antics. I’m a real catch.

The air conditioning doesn’t go on. Instead, we open the windows. The house is full of birdsong and a spring breeze.

The four of us have been on spring break. My wife Katie, my sons Solomon and Samson, and your humble author have spent a week together. Playing video games. Relaxing. Getting on each other’s nerves. This has been a lazy break. We imagined traveling somewhere but then we didn’t. This has been a busy semester. It was nice to do nothing.

I didn’t actually do nothing. I finished round two of a root canal. I played lots of basketball and went for runs. I answered email and wrote. All of his was pleasant. I enjoyed bumming around Iowa City.

My bones don’t lie. Spring is here, Meowalicious is in her catio, and all is right with the world.

Oh, for the uninformed, this is a catio.