I am happy to say that I have an update on the situation with our cat, Aesop.

All was quiet on the cat front Monday and most of Tuesday, despite the fact that Kyle had called the other family and hoped to come to a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Meanwhile, Aesop continued to appear at our house at his usual intervals, eating his food, lounging in the flowerbed, saying hi and getting petted...which made my kids feel much better.

I was able to have a conversation with Brooklyn about the possibility of getting a new cat.

That did not go over well.

I mean, the prospect of her getting ANOTHER cat was fine with her, but she sobbed for over an hour at the thought of having to actually relinquish ownership of Aesop. Understandable.

Late Tuesday evening, Kyle told me he received a call from the other family's husband.

While it was obvious the guy didn't want to give up Aesop completely either, he also was very understanding and apologetic about making assumptions regarding him.  He understood the importance of Aesop to our children.  Kyle said you could tell the guy really did like our cat.  

Kyle played the diplomat perfectly, agreeing to continue our current arrangement as is - with two conditions.

Aesop can be Nero to them and sleep at their house at night, so long as they 1) leave off the collar and 2) never keep him in the house during the day (which would prevent my kids from ever seeing him).

They agreed to this. My kids agreed to this. Kyle and I agree to this.

And throughout the day, Aesop has come and gone and eaten his food and lounged and gotten petted and generally fared rather well through it all.

Cats (unlike my chickens...see previous post on egg box curtains), really are quite smart.