Cats and men don't mix?

I was watching one of those Fancy Feast commercials on TV the other day and I thought -- with a serious degree of sadness, I might add -- "If I get married before the kids go off to college, I can't get a cat!"

Ya'll, my air conditioning has been out since Wednesday. The heat must be frying my brain. I mean, where the H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks did THAT come from??

For starters, in order to consider marriage even a remote possibility at any point in the future, don't you need some kind of a prospect? I'm not even dating anyone.

And even if it weren't...even if marriage was distantly visible on my horizon...if I wanted a cat, he'd better say yes ma'am and like it! He could have his dog (I haven't met too many male cat lovers), as long as it doesn't eat my cat.

We don't have a cat now. We don't have any animals. Partly because I don't want to pay my landlord $200 for them to live here. Partly because I figure I have enough to take care of without adding pets to the mix. (Yeah, like the kids would remember to feed it!) And partly because Christopher seems to be allergic to animals...especially cats. His eyes swell up, the back of his throat itches and his asthma flares. This is why I have to wait until he moves out to get one. I guess I better make sure he won't be moving back home first, huh?

My theory has been that if the kids are gone, I'll need a cat to keep me company. I won't know what to do with myself if I don't have anyone to take care of, I guess. (Or...I miss having a cat, and one excuse is as good as the next.) Once the kids are grown I might have the energy and the resources to see after a pet. Plus it would be nice to have a purring furball in my lap to absentmindedly stroke while I'm watching chick-flicks and eating bon bons.

Those are the days I have little confidence I'll meet anyone I'll want to share my life with before the kids go off to college. Or better yet, the days when I'm positive I'll prefer a cat's company to a man's. (Remind me to blog at some point about my proposed founding of the world's first Baptist convent!)

I must say, I'm really intrigued and quite amused by this oddball notion that I can never have both. <<scoff>> Says who??