A new bedroom toy.

It's become a bedtime ritual. Our cat Sprite senses when I'm getting ready, and circles and slinks around the bed until I get in. When we first got her, she'd knead where my surgery scar is. Now, she kneads on the web of my neck. It helps us know when to have her claws trimmed.

She'll race to the comfort and safety of my neck, and knead and purr, until I fall asleep. But sometimes in a state of kitty nirvana, she'll drool, in my ear, by the eyes, on the pillow.

So I've been thinking that instead of covering my eyes with my hands, I may borrow my son's science goggles and wear them to bed to keep the kitty slobber out of my eyes. Even though it's her way of telling me she loves me. It's good to be loved.