Acceptance

Libby joined our family in December of last year but I guess we were not "officially" a family until January due to our travels to Newfoundland for Christmas. We knew that the process of getting Libby and Brody to the point where they could be left alone together was going to take a lot of time and patience. Brody has a slight obsession with cats and cats normally, are not a fan of said obsession - Libby was no exception. She started in the spare room in hiding. She stayed behind the couch for a few days only coming out to eat and use her litter. Brody slept by the bedroom door and pressed his nose under the opening in hopes of getting a whiff of his new sister. Eventually, we would have supervised visits with Brody and Libby together. One or both of them would end up falling asleep. We both work in the spare room so our next move was a baby gate in the door separating them both while we were working. Libby would often sit either on her perch in the window or on the bed while Brody would sleep beside the gate. When the gate finally came down, Libby would sneak out into the living room and jump on her carpet tree - again out of Brody's reach. While all of this was going on, Libby was moving slowly with us as well. She would slowly move into my lap and stay for just a little while but as soon as Brody would come into sight, she would leap to a safe hiding place. Eventually, we would see them lying on the same blanket or with their tails touching while watching us in the kitchen. This morning, Libby leaned into Brody so he could lick her ears. She's now lying across my lap making it very awkward to type because her head is resting on the back of my hand and it bounces around when I move my fingers. It took a long time before she purred while in my lap and it still makes me tear up - this audible sound of contentment and safety. I couldn't force them to get along and I certainly couldn't force Libby to feel safe with me. It has been quite remarkable to watch this trust build. The trust between Brody and Libby and her trust with us. When we come home, it's not just Brody coming out to greet us but Libby too. In Brody's excitement he will practically run her over but she just braces herself and allows him to hip check her, because she knows she's safe. Libby reminds me that people and animals have a great capacity to learn to trust. Brody reminds me that there's always room for one more and acceptance is a given.