Mother vs. Cat

My mother has never been very good. I don't mean in the way that she will go to hell and not heaven - although she certainly will be heading south - it's more that she was never much of a mom to me...the good never made up for the bad.

So when she told me today, that I had to "get rid of the cat" - the cat my husband and I named "Babies" because we consider her our first child - I actually had to think about whether she meant enough to me to do this...to "get rid of MY cat".

In the end I rationalized that people are more valuable, worth more, than animals...and it helped that my wonderful mother-in-law (this woman is more of a mother to me than my own has ever been!) said she would take the cat.

Are people inherently more valuable than pets? Even bad people? I really don't think so. I think I was kidding myself. I think I'm going to regret choosing my mom over my cat.