Top Dog.

I was watching my cats romping around and wrestling last night and it got me thinking about how their relationship mimics every relationship in my life. When you have pets there is always one that is the dominant personality. In our house we have two cats and one defiantly stands out as the alpha cat. He lets the other cat eat only when he is done and lets him sleep in certain spots. They love each other and get along great as long as the alpha cat is getting what he wants. In our house there is an alpha kid. There is one child that sets the tone for pretty much how everything goes in our house. If she is happy and pleasant then things go smoothly and everyone is smiling. If she is angry or grouchy the climate of the house pretty much changes to match her mood. She has a tight control on the household. The alpha thing applys to marriages as well although I think each of us is dominant in certain areas. He takes control of the finances. I have had no idea where our money is for the last 14 years. I trust him and I am sure it is where is should be but if he died tomorrow I would have no clue where to look. I dominate with the kids. I know their schedules and what activities are when. I know their sizes and styles. He has NO clue about those things. This all works to balance us out and makes us compliment each other. I also notice that in a group of friends there is usually one person that takes over the conversation and often picks the movie or restaurant. I tend to be attracted to alpha friends probably because I would rather talk about someone else and let them make choices since I hate doing that. All this leads me to wonder how many of our alpha qualities we are born with and how many we develop with the help of environment and circumstance.