A subconscious habit

I vacillate between breakfast options. Lately, I've had homemade bread available, so I've let the granola languish and I've had fruit and toast with either local honey or homemade jelly. The bread supply running low, I opted for cereal the other day and found myself serving a subconscious habit.

Almost fourteen years ago, we got our last batch of house cats, brothers Tuxedo and Pyewacket. While they were yet small kittens, we were also remodeling the kitchen. Therefore, I took my cereal breakfast in the den while I watched the morning news and while Pyewacket watched me. Wanting to bond with him, I saved the milk in my cereal bowl for him and for the next 13 years, he haunted my breakfast table.

We had to say good-bye to Pye in December. He had become thin and listless and wasn't even interested in his beloved milk. But when I was finishing my cereal bowl this week, I found myself spooning out the granola and saving the milk for him. Then I realized that wasn't necessary.

Strange how habits can become so ingrained we don't even think of them. Even the silly ones, like saving the cereal milk for the cat.