Memory of Grandma McCleery

I loved my Grandma McCleery, she could be stern and I really spent much of my life scared of her (I really think it was the eyebrows) but now that I am older I am beginning to understand her much better. Some of that understanding has come from being so much like her, I'm not sure what happened but some of her genetics skipped my mom and came to me. So, I get to blame her (and my other Grandma) for being the odd duck and having o- blood (I'm the only one in my family), I think she shared her anxiety with me and she shared her anemia with me. The older I get the more I find out she has shared with me. I'm pretty sure she shared some of these things with some of my cousins because we have so many traits in common. This memory is more than genetics and the things we can't control, this memory is about learned behavior.

Grandma used to always give her cat, Sam, Valium. I remember hearing stories about how she would share her Valium with her cat. Now, I will give her the benefit of the doubt, I was young and could have misunderstood. But I really think I heard that story right, especially when I heard it over and over. Grandma always had a Siamese cat named Sam and her last Sam was so roundy that her tummy drug on the ground. I remember my mom joking about Grandma giving a happy pill to Sam and one to herself. We all have that moment when we realize that we are turning into our parents, I am now having moments when I'm realizing that I'm turning into my Grandma!

Our cat, Tony, has been acting weird ever since we dog sat for my mom over the weekend about 2 weeks ago. Ever since then he thinks it's his time to play with us from about 1:00 am to right before Kenny has to wake up for work (around 5 am). This has been going on for 2 weeks and we are both about ready to kill this cat. I love him, but I love my sleep so much more. At the same time my doctor prescribed me a pain pill to help with my pain at night so I can sleep, I have been using it a little here and a little there and have now used it enough that I was able to figure out that I'm allergic to it. I decided that instead of throwing the cat out the door or taking it to the human society that we should maybe try sleeping pills. Before I go any further, Kenny thought this was a good idea as well.

One of my boys asked me last night if I had any of those pills that Grandma used to have and shared with her cat. Unfortunately, when they switched my med's I flushed my Valium down the toilette. So, sleeping pills it is. I also read over the package and thought that I might try one as well and hope that it would help me sleep through the night until I can see my doctor. And this is when the moment of realization came to me; I am just like my Grandma! We gave me a full pill and the cat 1/2 a pill. In theory this should have gone perfect and Tony would have taken his pill as well as I did, but nothing is ever easy.

Kenny held the cat (I did offer to do the holding, but he could do it himself) and tried to shove the pill down the cats throat. Poor Tony freaked, Kenny held him tighter, Tony bit and scratched Kenny, Kenny freaked and tried to take the pill back out, Tony really bit Kenny hard. I'm not sure where the pill ended up but Tony started foaming at the mouth and kept foaming at the mouth. We kept trying to hold him and wipe his mouth for him but at that point he was so pissed at us he didn't want anything to do with us. I bet that if I was in Tony's head he was thinking things that go way beyond pissed, he does have us for parents and so I bet he was thinking something harsh and that if we knew what those meow's were they weren't nice. We did try hard to comfort him and went through several paper towels trying to keep his little mouth clean and our floor wiped up. I felt really bad, Kenny felt horrible and kept apologizing to Tony and now I wish I could have gotten a picture of Tony's foam goatee.

Now really, can you just imagine Kenny chasing the cat around with a wad of paper towels, hand and arm bleeding and alternating between cussing at the cat and apologizing. I finally got Tony and was trying to help keep his mouth wiped and was petting him, trying to calm him down, but gave up he was just to freaked out at that point. Tony eventually made his way to the boys desk and sat underneath it and glared down the hall at Kenny.

I am happy to announce that we all got to sleep through the entire night!! I also want to make sure that you all know that Tony is doing just fine. I'm not sure when he finally stopped foaming at the mouth but he did sleep through the night as well and has been awake all morning and even playing. Usually he is asleep right now. I feel as though I should add a disclaimer here that I had no idea that he would foam at the mouth from giving him a sleeping pill and in no way did we want to intentionally want to hurt him. I think he's fine though.

I'm counting this as a dry run and now we will know what to do better tonight. I'm envisioning "getting my plumbers helper and a shovel, I'll open his mouth and shooove it in." (Christmas Story, I hope I got that quote right, it's close anyway)

In honor of Grandma who liked to share her happy pills, I will share sleeping pills. I am way to selfish to give up my sleep or share my happy pills. Grandma, you were actually so much nicer than me.