Date a guy SEVERELY allergic to cats. Obviously I wasn’t thinking long-term because I’ve had cats all my life and I don’t think I could live without them.
There were a lot of work arounds. He never came to my apartment, where I had one cat and my roommate had two; I always had to come to his. So he never met my roommate or my cat, and I couldn’t show him my LP collection or my books.
I had to get “unspoiled” clothes and leave them at his apartment, and take a shower as soon as I got there. And even then, he would have a reaction. It was probably cat fur and dander lurking on my purse or shoes. I couldn’t pet a cat I might see on the street (which I always do). Believe me, it got old.
I started feeling like there was a whole part of me I was hiding, like I was pretending to be someone I wasn’t. Unbelievably, it lasted a year, but what a release when it was over.
There’s always a piece of cat fur on me somewhere and affectionately I think of it as my cat accompanying me everywhere I go.
