We’re cheetahs

Tree and I regularly talk about how strange it is that we aren’t in a relationship – not with each other, with others. He has been a bit stressed out lately because he had to have ‘the talk’ with Book Nook about the fact that he is HIV positive. This is, not surprisingly, a difficult conversation for Tree. The post-conversation can be just as difficult because a lot of people shy away from the idea of dating someone with HIV. Luckily for Tree, the post-conversation with Book Nook was quite simple. “This would be a lot easier if you were ugly,” was Book Nook’s sarcastic and supportive reply.

As Tree and I discussed this over coffee we also mentioned how, if we were animals, we would most likely be cheetahs.  Neither of us can really remember how or why we came to this conclusion. It is known that most female cheetahs live alone, so there is that.  It is also known that cheetahs are quite fast at catching their prey. Sadly, we’re not so fast and the only thing we tend to catch is a disease. Like the cheetah, however, we share the need to rest for at least 30 minutes, maybe more, after a hard ‘chase’ and we’ve been known to stutter or make agonistic vocalizations on more than one occasion.

Perhaps we made the cheetah comparison because we didn’t want to be called cougars; although, neither of us have ever taken offense to that ‘title.’ Cougars, however, do tend to be stalkers and will ‘hunt’ for hours. That is so not us and so not cheetahs – they’ll give up on their prey if they can’t catch them after a fast-paced sprint. Looks like our comparison was, literally, spot on.