Member-only story
My Cat Is on Daylight Savings Time
And he’s driving me crazy
I once thought retiring from my nine to five would mean fun times for me. Aging meant I could sleep as late as I wanted. I dreamed of the day when my time would be my own — when I could practice self-care and lounge in bed luxuriously. It's now clear that I was delusional.
Because that was before I knew my cat, Rumi, was on Daylight Savings Time. Permanently.
My cat’s inner clock
The little guy has a clock in his head and refuses to deviate from it. He is the stubbornest creature I’ve ever known.
I thought retiring meant peace. Not in this home. The meows start every day before seven for breakfast. Rumi sneaks into my room and starts rattling the blinds and meowing at the world outside.
He does not care that I had insomnia the night before and I’m trying to get in those precious seven hours of sleep so I can function.
Rumi doesn’t give up easily. If the rattling and meowing don’t work, he jumps on my end table and knocks things over. If I roll back over to try to sleep, he climbs on top of me, walks on my head, and sits on it.
One morning after a night of sleep deprivation, I’d had it. “Go away, it’s bedtime,” I said sternly. But he didn’t listen. He…
