Most Gurus have a past, and ours is no exception.

Our Guru kitty Max spent the first two years of his life on the streets. Literally.

When he first showed up at the home of a friend of ours, he was dirty and scrawny. Our friend tried to integrate him into her household, but that household had other cats.

Our Guru wasn’t having it.

Our Guru hates other cats.

Probably because he’s so much more enlightened than they are, and it’s difficult to be in the presence of such basic, common beings.

That’s probably it.

Whatever the reason, our friend was unable to integrate the Guru in her home, and she had to find other accommodations.

Enter us! Two people who love cats who had no cats living with them at the time.

The Guru came to our home and it’s been heaven ever since.

Except when it hasn’t.

Take our most recent Guru escapade, for example.

The Guru sleeps on our bed with us every night. Sometimes he starts out elsewhere, but he pretty quickly finds his way upstairs and plops his furry, enlightened body on our bed.

I was one of those kids who longed for a cat to sleep on the bed with me. My childhood cat, Mittens, would sleep with me for about ten minutes, and only because I forced him to. Then he’d jump off my bed and not come back. This made me sooooo sad.

I longed for the day I’d have a cat who would cuddle and sleep with me all through the night.

I’ve had several cats since then, but Max is the first one who sleeps with us all night.

All. Night.

It’s the best.

But, the other night, he didn’t sleep with us. Not at all.

I was so disturbed by this, I went and looked for him in the middle of the night. He was nowhere to be found, which meant he was probably in The Closet Closet.

The Closet Closet is a second closet off another closet in the upstairs of our house. It’s a great place to go if you don’t want to be found.

The Guru likes to go there when a new housesitter comes. Or when something scary has happened, like a loud noise or the doorbell ringing. Or the housecleaner arrives with her evil vacuum cleaner.

At first I couldn’t figure out what Scary Thing could possibly be happening that would cause the Guru to retreat to The Closet Closet.

And then I realized.

It was raining.

We’re in the middle of a drought, which means the Guru hasn’t heard rain in the while.

The Guru that lived on the streets for two years and had to deal with rain on the regular.

When he first came to stay with us, he was used to direct exposure to drops falling from the sky. It didn’t bother him to hear it on the roof.

But that’s the thing about getting used to something and then having things change and getting unused to the thing you’d gotten used to.

The Guru’s reaction to the rain was a prime example of this phenomenon.

Finally, in the morning, he emerged from The Closet Closet and hopped up on our bed for some snuggles. It had stopped raining, and the Guru was relieved.

Ten minutes later, however, the rain came back and the Guru was gone again.

It made me think of how I took the No Complaining Challenge and got really good at not complaining.

And then time went by. My commitment to No Complaining dried up like the drought-impacted reservoirs in California.

Complaining language started flowing from my mouth like the rain everyone wished was flowing into those reservoirs.

I got used to Not Complaining. But then time went by and I got unused to it.

Isn’t that horrible?

(See, there I go. Complaining again!)

The Guru’s rain dance was a reminder to me to recommit to No Complaining.

As always, it makes me suspect that the Guru’s recent behavior was to enlighten me in this respect.

Maybe that’s why he had a sly little smile on the corner of his mouth when he finally emerged from The Closet Closet.

Or maybe it’s because he knew he was about to get fed.

Either way, he’s a smart dude.

When have you gotten used – and then unused – to something? Share your comments below!

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