The Perfect Moment

I breed cats. Anyone breeding, loving or being owned by cats knows that it isn't always the easiest thing in the world. Every other day, or so it seems, I feel like quitting. I call my mentor, get a pep talk, look at my cats, think about the friends I've made, and invariably change my mind.

Today I had one of those perfect moments that makes me remember why I do this and why I love it so much.

It snowed yesterday and was cold and gloomy. Today the sun was streaming through the windows and I was sitting on the floor, drinking day-old coffee (too lazy to go to the store) and watching two litters of 8-week-old Bengal kittens cavorting through the house with one of the mothers frolicking along side them.

The babies are all fat, glossy and full of the exuberance of life. One of them found a granola wrapper and was leading the rest on a merry chase through the house, over the couches, under the coffee table, over and under me (coffee cup raised high in the air) until one of them did a flying tackle, stole the wrapper and the chase began again.

When some of them got tired, they found my lap, sprawled out and contentedly began to chew on my pants, my toes, my hair and the hand not holding the cup of coffee. With the sun on my back and warm fuzzy kittens in my lap, it hit me that this is a big part of why I do this. All of the stress of the things not done, the day's events still to come, just drained away. Seeing all those happy, joyful little faces, so full of life and love gave me that perfect moment of happiness...

And then of course, one of them landed in my coffee during another round of flying kitty! Oh, well, the moment just before that was perfect!