Companions

How is it that you suddenly hear from all those people you'd almost forgotten about and who you thought had forgotten all about you? Well, I sure as hell aint complaining, but still. Plain curiosity. Why do folks do this? The cynical and kind of suspicious little part of me immediately goes thinking, what is it that they want this time? Cause of course, it wouldn't be because of such trivial reasons as, "it's been a while", "we should catch up with things", or even, "I miss you" - but because of more commonly distributed reasons as "I'm calling you because everyone else was busy". It might just be me. It might just be my head, but if, say, a cat you once loved that got lost chasing squirrels one day, would suddenly reappear - I think you'd be entitled to ask yourself the question why it's come back. Or at least where it's been and what it's been doing while it's been anywhere but where you've been. And if that little cat, now all grown-up of course, came back and asked you to love it again - would you? Would it be easy to just fall into your old self and embrace the creature without questioning... or would you remind yourself of how happy you been since you realized life's much more free and un-homebound without the responsibility you had to take to care for that pet? Well, once you've gotten over the mourning of losing it, that is. I mean, think about it. You don't have to go home to feed it. You don't have to spend time with it and cuddle with it and take care of all its problems when you always wish you could be doing something else. I guess it's simply the way that some pets are good, and some aint. Some will comfort you and support you all your life, and be your companions more than they are your pets. Other pets will be craving, demanding, sucking all the energy out of you, and soon they've turned you into their pet rather than the other way around.
So go on, little cat! Run away, chase the squirrels, try out what it's like to be free for a while! But when you realize there's no gold at the end of the rainbow, please, don't come crawling to me again. Cause I've got new ones. Pets, not really. More like companions.
More like actual friends.