Just had a wild experience at a BnB on England's South Coast. Buckle up!
The lady who owned it was very nice. Well turned-out, in her sixties, she raised her children and grandchildren in the house before turning it into a BnB. She showed me round, went through house rules, and introduced me to her cat. We'll call him Henry.
Henry is very fluffy, slightly wonky, with one eye. He was found in a pile of rubbish, and the lady nursed him back to health as a kitten. Apparently, he was born without a brain, because he has been hospitalised no fewer than three times after running into the road without looking. One of the rules was that Henry has to be kept inside, as he clearly does not learn from his mistakes and costs his human a lot of money when he decides to play in traffic.
Later on in my stay I was chilling on the bed, the window in my room open (it was very high up, had to stand on my tiptoes to open it, and the windowsill was basically nonexistent.) The door was closed but obviously not clicked fully shut... because the next thing there is a bang, the door opens, and Henry throws himself at the wall and riccochets out of the window.
I *freaked*.
I tried to call him back in, but no, he just stood on the roof of the conservatory and stared at me. A long term tenant appeared, rolling his eyes and shaking his head, said not to worry, this happens sometimes, he'll be back (hopefully).
I tried to enjoy dinner with my friend but I was worried about Henry. I got back after midnight, tipsy, and went to bed. Not long after, I heard the landlady crash in and call Henry. I thought I'd better own up so I went and told her I'd accidentally let him out. She said (drunkenly) "it's alright darling, he's here, I just wanted to cuddle him!" I was like "omg thank God!"
Then she giggled like a naughty child and said "do you want a glass of wine?" So I said "Go on then!"
Then two hours later we are both plastered and I'm like "Jane why are you with this man he is a WALKING RED FLAG BABE HE DOES NOT RESPECT YOU" she's like "YOU'RE ONLY A BABY HOW ARE YOU SO WISE" and I'm like "because it's cheaper to take my therapist's advice on board than go back every month with the same shit"
*giggling*
I didn't see her again before I checked out but I left her a thank you note on the back of a piece of paper with positive affirmations on it that I've had in my wallet for months. I felt it was a nice thing to have happened, to have been able to pass on some of my therapy to someone else and help them set boundaries and heal, and that it's never too late to start saying yes to yourself.
And then I had to help Henry again because he got his paw stuck trying to get the window open.
y’all ever watch your cat slowly push something off the edge of a table, but you don’t stop them immediately because you lowkey wanna see what happens too