Now I know apartment sharing (Airbnb) and car sharing (VIA, Lift) are having a moment in the sun. And of course there is no greater cheerleader for bike sharing (the fabulous Citibikes that have added immense amounts of joy to my regular commute for nearly three years now) than I am, and for community/ie shared local dinners. And I hope and trust these wonderful reinventions are here to stay.
But no one has mentioned Pet-sharing and I would like to propose it now.
Spiced up a bit, this might be the foundational story of a major new trend:
I joined the Board of Penn South Social Services about half a year ago because I wanted to get more involved in my local community and come up with better ways for different generations and individuals to work together.
My fellow new Board member and upstairs neighbor started a FB page for the organization. Since we are among the youngest and most familiar with social media, we talked about what we might use it for.
And I had this idea: my family would love to have a pet, but our schedules are too crazy and we are away too often for that to be a wise choice.
Aren't there people who have pets and don't want to pay outrageous sums to have them looked after?
We would be willing- no thrilled - to pet-sit for a period. That would give us a chance to have an animal in our lives in a meaningful and manageable way. And we would offer genuine rather than paid care.
Forget FB, a conversation was enough. My fellow Board member was heading to Italy for 10 days and asked me then and there if we might take care of her cat. Best of all, "Kimmy" would come to us, she suggested, so she would not be alone for so long.
We are on day 9. What a wonderful time! Kimmy did take a while to get used to us. At the beginning, she hid so thoroughly that I wondered if she might have dis-apparated Harry Potter style and I imagined with horror having to tell my neighbor, just landing in Tuscany, what had happened. And on the first day, Kimmy's lack of appetite was cause for concern.
But she is prowling around now, sleeping at the foot of my bed and choosing the rooms we are in rather than those we are not. My son is feeding her regularly, in fact, we need to make sure not to both feed her unwittingly as her appetite is immense, as if to make up for lost time.
It's been good to see the kids accepting responsibility to care for Kimmy and learning to appreciate the sensibilities of a cat, who cannot be forced into friendship. We have even experienced a certain self-imposed mellowing as our loud noises and occasional craziness scare the cat and we are often thinking about her. And last, but not least, we've had some warm pet snuggles and marveled at what a beautiful, nimble and communicative creature she is.
So- pet sitting. A serious responsibility but I'm a huge fan.
And ready to do it again. Anyone?
