I approached Sunday’s arrival with nerves but excitement. Why? Because I told my friends at PS9 Pets that I would take Serge home with me on a foster-to-adopt basis.

After a few days, I would then see how my allergies did and how I felt about the responsibility of having a pet. Growing up, I never had a pet–unless you count tropical fish where were mostly cared for by Dad.

I chose Sunday because of a business trip earlier in the week and plans to see Beyonce in Baltimore at the end.

After driving back from DC Saturday, I went over to PS9 to check in. Yep, Serge was there waiting and still the sweet, affectionate cat I had been hanging out with. No Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde situation. Serge is the best. I said I’d be back for him tomorrow.

My nerves weren’t helped Sunday morning by the fact that I woke up with allergy symptoms. It wasn’t a huge surprise – after all, I had been exposed to pollens from several different states in recent days, and I had also met Candace‘s dog.

She wanted to bite my head off https://t.co/zGQM8nI0pN

— One Chicklette (@1chicklette) June 11, 2016

After sleeping in (it was a long week, OK??), I ran my errands and then popped into PS9. Sweet Serge greeted me like the best person in the world had arrived–but truly, I think he treats everyone like that. I sat on PS9’s back stoop overlooking the garden and he climbed into my lap, chirping and purring.

And then the hives started. My nose got itchy. I had thought I was past the worst of my allergies thanks to a combination of exposure and Flonase. But, no.

It started to sink in that taking Serge home, even just to foster him for a few days, was a fantasy, one I had to let go.

I feel like I let him down, as well as my friends at PS9, and it’s lousy.