I am...

Being covered in purring cats is pretty much the true measure of home, isn't it?

I was gone for a week this last week, and by two days in I went into such cat withdrawal that I began acting out annoying cat behaviors using a stuffed animal like a puppet. Evidently these were quite apt, as my husband recognized them immediately. He was very tolerant, and even used The Cat Voice in response. This is a soothing, sarcastic voice of bemused acceptance which he uses with cats and small children to explain in charmingly blunt ways everything that is wrong with the universe. For an example, my five year old niece wanted to know why there was a vegetable turtle mascot on her juice box, and he explained, "It's because they know that by the time you're an adult there won't be any real turtles left to compare it to." When Jack jumped up on his desk to demand snuggles after we got home I could tell even from a different room in the house because I overheard Poe saying, "Hello. Yes, that's your face. It is very close to my eyeball." Someday I shall get some of these conversations on tape, because text does not properly convey how awesome they are.

Anyhow, four days into our week long trip, the cat withdrawal was so bad that I apparently psychically summoned a neighborhood stray to our doorstep, where she was enthusiastically affectionate until it became clear we were not going to allow her in the house, at which point she disappeared, we think to nurse kittens. She was underweight and quite young, which means that somewhere in the proximity of our place in Alabama is a litter of undernourished kittens. We're gonna see if we can find them when we go back this weekend, though what we'll do about it if we succeed remains to be seen.

We just got home on Monday, and the difference it makes to be covered in determined purring felines is just immeasurable. Despite the interruptions for snuggles and sneezes in the face and everything, it was still the first decent night of sleep in a week. I'm so glad you're getting the full course of homecoming joy, too!