Hear me out, folks, because I may very well win a Nobel for this... What if the way to achieve real bipartisanship (communication! compromise! actually listening to folks from the "other side"!) is to offer everything in opposition to getting a cat? Some context...

This morning after dropping Jack off, Oliver and I headed to PetSmart to get a larger shell for Jerry because he (a hermit crab) seems dangerously close to spilling out of his old one. While there, we detoured by the cat adoption area and FELL.IN.LOVE.WITH a four month old kitten named Nutmeg. She was a dream. Playful, purring, licked our faces, fluffy but not too fluffy, orange but not too orange. If I didn't think T would move out, I'd have brought her home immediately. Oliver was equally smitten and suggested Nutmeg be his only birthday present (he turns 4 in March but I liked his negotiating tactic). My heart strings were strumming with a mournful plea of a song: who could leave this precious feline, already spayed AND from Last Chance Shelter :(, in this plexiglass cage? It took all I had to hand her back to Marquis. Oliver called T on the way to school and suggested he consider Nutmeg joining our family. At first, T was like, "hell's no, Ol!" but I could tell he wasn't 100% on that...

In the meantime, I posted a note on Facebook asking if I were nuts to consider adopting this adorable cat. People, I have rarely seen such complete and emotive agreement around a NO. Truly unbelievable the unanimity of responses, even though they were all differently reasoned. Wow.

As such, it seems to me that if you put forth a motion in Congress to A) deal with climate change, or B) adopt a cat, healing the earth would commence immediately. Raise taxes on the wealthy or adopt a cat? OMG, a tax increase just passed with 100% of the vote!

Just a thought, peeps.