One of the great things about a cat is how, on occasion, they are excited to see you even when you don’t have food. They come running over, they greet you with their little nose, rub against your leg and say, “What’re we gonna do now???” Then you walk down the hall and they say, “COOL! We’re goin’ down the hallway!” They run ahead, wait, make sure you’re coming, run behind your legs and then between them, trying to either kill you or commit suicide; it’s never really clear. Then when you arrive at the end of the hall, they sniff around. “We’re here!! Isn’t this great??? What next????” They look up at you with such expectations.

In the end, you really aren’t doing a darn thing but walking to the bathroom to put away the toilet paper you just bought, but they don’t care. They’re happy little creatures, glad to see you, happy to be alive. That’s the crux of it. They are just thrilled to be alive. It’s what pets do. They remind you to be happy to be alive. They just know that great things are to come.

Of course, to a cat, a chicken liver is the greatest thing in the world. It’s the simple joys. The very simple ones, like a happy cat.