When we came home Sunday night Panda and Pookie, two of our three cats, were in the house. Angus, the third, streaked through the yard a few minutes later as we were cleaning the last of our stuff out of the car. He stopped, saw that it was us and dashed in the door. Michelle said she saw Angus a time or two while we were gone but he would never come close.

We hadn’t been gone long – five days, four nights – but they didn’t want to let us out of their sight for most of the day yesterday. In the afternoon I sat in the recliner, put my feet up and instantly had two cats on top of me. This morning I slept late and when I awoke all three cats were lying beside me, each one snuggled up next to me, but not touching each other.

I know that dog lovers all have good reasons for loving their dogs, but there is nothing that a dog can do that compares with the purring of a cat. There is power in the contented purring of a cat that draws tension and anxiety from the mind and body. There is a different kind of purring that cats do when they are hungry that isn’t so relaxing – I’m not talking about that.

For two older people, our cats are just what we need to make sure our days aren’t totally boring and dreary.