Journal Entry (Friday February 17, 2023)
Most people wont understand what I am about to say. The hardest part of taking three months out of my life to ride a bike across the country is missing the most important people in my life. It comes down to two, my sweetheart and my cat. (There are others, but for the sake of this story, we’ll keep it to two.) Which one I will miss more is not open to discussion, of course it will be my sweetheart. The problem that keeps haunting me is she understands what I’m doing, she is even going to meet me a couple of places along the way and at the end. My cat has no way of knowing that once I leave I will be coming back, and the longer I’m away, the more he will miss me.
Ah, I can hear you say “what makes you think he’ll miss you?” The answer is simple, he will. He waits at the door for me to return whenever I go out of the house. When I take a shower he lays by the shower door on my towel waiting for me to finish. He sleeps on the bed at my feet and occasionally he will even snuggle by my head. (That is unusual for a cat, even one as devoted as he is.)
I am thinking seriously about taking him with me, but he is an older cat (like me). I’m not sure he would have a good time and I’m not sure I can handle the extra weight. I’d have to pull him in a bike trailer. That combined with the panniers is probably just too much weight for me. Still, it makes me sad to think I’ll be away from him for such an extended period of time.
What does my sweetheart think about all this? She thinks I’m crazy. I can’t blame her. I will say in my defense, and to her credit, she brings him into the bed with us more often than I do, which I find charming as hell. That said, I’m sure she still thinks I’m a bit obsessed.
Deciding to go on this trip would be easy if it weren’t for the damn cat… But I love him and I’m seriously conflicted about all this.