Photo: an extremely handsome brown and black striped tabby cat: Max is standing at the threshold of a doorway between kitchen and balcony. Blurred in the far background is Sam, another gorgeous tabby cat in silver and white, laying like a stunning Rubenesque model ready to be painted. Max is facing us and standing on three legs while his front arm is outstretched, reaching and extending under the camera. We can see his little fingers are spread as he widens his paw to touch us. He is looking at us as if he's concerned and is reaching out a hand. Max is the check-in cat. He is here for you. When this photo was taken Max actually tapped me with his paw like he was saying: 'Hey, stop for a minute, I am here.' Sometimes when I'm asleep and I have a nightmare, I wake up because Max is doing exactly this, a few taps and then he lays on me, all draped over like I'm a big log or tree branch, and then settling in on me and purring. 'No bad dreams; I am here now.' (That's what I say to Max when I gently wake him from kitty nightmares.) I often wonder if I was making nightmare noises when he does that. Max is the check-in cat. He is here for you. We are all doing Herculean amounts of emotional inventory management right now. It's okay to look up.

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