Moment of Contentment

Just now...

After my hard day's work, I stretch out on the couch just below the giant living room window on the second floor. I break open the binding to start a new Connie Willis book in hand from the Public Library. Out the window, all I see is the sky and the California Bay Tree in full bloom. The fog is pouring in from across the bay and starting to stack up in huge, inviting clouds against the hills. Someone is flying a kite in the park across the street. I watch the green and black kite dancing between the shifting colors in the white and blue background of the sky. All of this is wonderful enough. But it gets even better when the cat jumps into my lap, clearly with a nap in mind, but then spots the same kite I've been watching. I feel his whole body tense up with the eagerness only a cat can express so full-bodied perfectly. He's convinced the kite is a bird. Together we marvel.