Riddle me this: how is a cat suite not like a critically-acclaimed TV drama? (Aside from the absence of the obligatory Unlucky-In-Love Best Friend character and the Whiny Soft Rock Soundtrack.)

This week, we got the answer. Unlike it’s television counterpart, no change in the cast of characters can make a cat suite “jump the shark.”

I remember being in 8th grade and being utterly besotted with the show ER - and, even more, with the relationships between the characters. In the Christmas episode, maudlin slow-motion shots of the smiling cast accompanied Rosemary Clooney crooning, “through the years we allllll will be together…if the fates allow…”

Oh, let the fates allow them to all stay together! my heart pined. They are such wonderful friends and doctors! (Yes, in case you had any doubt, I was this peculiar even as a kid.)

Of course, the fates - or, rather, NBC - didn’t allow for that kind of stability, and so the deck of fictional doctors was shuffled over and over and over again. And, somewhere along the way, the show seemed to lose its heart. As with high school BFF bunches, so in television, you can only pull out so many threads before things unravel.

Not so in a cat suite.

This week I was looking through some cat photos from the Mesozoic Era 2008, and marveled to see Sylvan, Star and Venice cuddled atop Suite C’s ramp with long-gone faces like  Jose, Ginger, Kurt and Rumor. A few months prior, the same cats were in a happy heap with Blake and Onyx. Flip back just a little earlier, and Samson and Nacho were in the mix.

The most amazing thread running through all these changes? Contentment.

No doubt about it - as cats came and went from the photos, the remaining cats remained as serene as the beach in February. Old friends adopted? Oh, okay. New faces arriving by the platoon? Cool beans.

If you peek out into the Suite C solarium today, you’ll see those same old stalwarts - Star, Venice, Desi, Precious - just as content in the company of newer friends like Opal and Mango.

I don’t know about you, but I want in on their secret. Where does this peace and ease come from? How do they maintain it in ever-changing circumstances (with the notable exceptions of vet visits and nail trims, which are not exactly shimmering examples of “serenity”)?

When I asked, Star maintained her silent, Sphinx-like smile. But I think that smile gave me a clue: for the cats, contentment is its own answer.

In fact, perhaps it’s fair to say they’ve learned the secret of contentment in all circumstances: keeping their eyes and hearts focused on the good they cannot lose rather than the things - and faces - they cannot keep the same.

Despite the hopeless situations they’ve seen, the cats - especially the ones who have been at Tabby’s Place a long time - seem to have an innate confidence that they will have all their needs met, including their needs for love and fun. If friends are going to come and go, why waste joy mourning every exit? Why take an instant longer than necessary to fall in love with new suitemates?

Why wait to be joyful?

Maybe Jonathan put it best when he compared the cats to kids at summer camp. In the camp/suite realm, they are one for all and all for one, utterly inseparable. But when autumn/adoption comes, there’s no major mourning over goodbye: it’s just a return to the other world of other friends and other joys.

Would that we could be so flexible in where we find our joy. Yes, once again, the cats have provided us a Deep Lesson.

And I have a strong suspicion there are many more where that one came from. Star, we sit at your tiny feet, ready to learn. ;-)

Tags: blake, deep thoughts, desi, ginger, jose, kurt, mango, milo, nacho, onyx, opal, penny, precious, Rumor, samson, star, sylvan, venice

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