The Kitty Room

I drove across a couple of states on the west coast recently...with my beloved cat.  I usually refer to myself as a crazy or neurotic cat mommy, but I'm not going to today.  Turns out I'm not as overly cautious and careful as I had thought.

I did my homework and looked up "pet friendly" hotels on the internet.  I booked a room at a Holiday Inn Express.  I made them aware of the fact that I would have a cat in the room.  I arranged a late check out and got assurances from the front desk that no one would attempt to enter my room until after I checked out because I was going to let my cat loose in the room, out of her carrier, and did not want her to get spooked or get out.  I wanted her to be secured in my private, locked room.  "You promise?"  "Yes.  Absolutely."

So I got a promise from the front desk.  I left my cat in the room, put her empty carrier right behind the door so that anyone walking in would know there was an animal loose in the room and think twice and I put the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door.  I double-checked the door to make sure it had closed securely and locked properly.  I thought I'd done everything necessary to make sure she'd be left undisturbed.

I returned a couple of hours later and found that my door was open and ajar.  I was immediately alarmed.  I pushed the door wide and saw my beloved cat drinking water from the bowl I'd left for her and breathed a sigh of relief and gave her some head rubs.

I was relieved, irritated and validated.  I did everything I could to secure that situation and someone still opened the door and exposed me to a potentially awful situation with regards to my beloved cat.  No more referring to myself as the crazy cat mommy!  It's not neurosis, it's practicality!

I packed and prepared to leave.  I walked out into the hallway and saw two women from the cleaning staff down the hall.  They saw me too.  "Hey!  It's the kitty room."  Really?  Argh.  I walked past and one of the women said, "Your cat is so pretty."  Argh.  Killin' me.  I just said "thank you" and got the hell out of there.