My cat loves to play. He does it all the time, even though he's almost 10 now. Judging by other people's cats, the older they are, the less they tend to play. But nope, not Titicaca.
All day long, he runs after stuff (mice, birds, you name it), climbs up the trees in our little garden at the back of house or plays with his big orange ball.
His favorite ball-related game is to take that ball into his mouth, bring it to the top of stairs -- right outside mom's bedroom, push it so that it starts bouncing down the steps and run after it. He can repeat that sequence up to ten times in a row. Climb with the ball, push it and run down after it. Over and over again.
Which brings me to how this simple orange ball changed my life.
Months ago, mom was sleeping in her room. It was 2AM or something. Quite late anyway.
Suddenly, she woke up. She told me later she thought she had heard a noise outside and that woke her up.
She decided to get up and go down to our living room to investigate.
At the top of the stairs was the big orange ball, left there by our cat.
My mom's left foot stepped on the ball, she lost her balance and fell down the entire staircase.
I'll spare you the hospital part. The result of that fall: two fractured vertebraes. For the foreseeable future, lifting stuff or even walking was going to be a challenge, the doctor told me.
And that was not an effing understatement. Even lifting a small bag of sugar is now like torture for mom.
Since she was unable to do any housework anymore, I quit high school the week after her fall to take care of her as well as take care of the house.
Conclusion: A single day can change your entire life.
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