You’ve Got a Friend

Rick’s brother Rod, his wife Lora and their daughter Katie traveled from Idaho to spend some time with family back in Minnesota.

They took a few days and traversed to Wisconsin to visit with a couple of Rick’s sisters, and then made the trek up to the Northwoods.

When we got the heads-up that they were coming, I sat down and had “the talk” with Thor.  This talk is always about letting him know that people are coming and asking him to be social and not hide for the entire time they are here.  (Yes, he does understand me, so call off the men in white coats please.)

I have to admit he has gotten better at being around strangers, but he still has a hard time with kids.

That was until he met Katie.

These two had the longest stare-down that I have ever seen.  It went on for what seemed forever and I think it was eventually called a draw.

After that determination of equality and unspoken agreement of “I won’t hurt you if you don’t hurt me”, something amazing happened that I didn’t think I’d ever see.

Thor let Katie pet him.

Not a lot, but it was the most kindness that I had seen that cat bestow on a child.

My heart melted and I wept a little inside.

At that moment I knew that Thor had some social skills that were slowly coming forward.  There was hope.  It will happen.

Of course, hoping we could get him into a family picture was really pushing the envelope at this stage, so I opted out of that trauma (for him and me).