Surrounded, 9:46am
Lately I've been waking up to all three of my cats cuddled up around me. Not every morning, but definitely anytime I have a day off, and when my wife heads in to work before I'm up and about.
It's mostly comforting, but sometimes a bit stifling too. (You'll feel stifled if you toss and turn in your sleep like a rotisserie chicken)
It is sweet though, and of course very soft.
Sometimes I think about my cats like they're extra friends, or my own children. Free to hang out, sweet financial burdens, I'd put myself in danger for them... Even if they piss me off sometimes by chewing up my underwear or trying to get into the trash.
But that's just cats.
Human friends are even more complicated. I can't even begin thinking about human children... Maybe this moment of being surrounded will do just fine for now.