Catattack

Sometimes you’re the one that makes the visit ridiculous. If you know me even a little bit you know that I am terrified, like seriously terrified, of cats. It is not an irrational fear – they sit there and stare at you with their judging eyes and then, out of nowhere, they pounce on you and scratch your eyes out. See, totally legitimate fear. Anyway, somehow the majority of my clients have cats.

When I walked into this particular client’s house I realized immediately that she had cats, not just one, but judging by the smell and the amount of hair that was coating every single thing in the house it was clear that she had several cats. I told her that I was allergic (which is a total lie but I’m not going to tell a client that I hate her pets). She told me that I would be fine and then proceeded to let the cats roam free. I still have no idea how many cats she had but I saw at least four. I was dying inside but somehow managed to focus on the client while attempting to block out everything else that was going on around me. Of course, because I was blocking everything else out I didn’t see the cat sprinting toward me. By the time I realized what was happening the cat was in midair and still coming at me. I shrieked and instinctively threw my body into the fetal position. Thank god I didn’t start rocking back and forth because my client was staring at me with her mouth open after witnessing this epic failure of self-control. Eventually I was able to pry my body out of my protective position and relax enough to finish the visit, but believe me, I made sure I paid attention to those cats while I was there. I’m thinking I’m going to view this as step one in my own immersion therapy.