Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

I knew I had to post this picture the second I found it. I thought the idea of a dog saying goodnight with a little boy, rather than a little boy saying goodnight to the dog, was really cool, but I was also surprised by it. As someone coming from a household with cats, it never occurred to me that pets could have any sort of positive and affectionate involvement in a bedtime ritual.

Since cats are nocturnal, it’s an entirely different ballgame. While you try and catch up on sleep after a long week’s worth of work, they leap around the house, knocking over all manner of things – half-filled glasses of juice, cereal boxes, lamps, you name it. After they get bored with that, they rustle around with anything they can find on the floor – plastic bags, dish towels, the cereal box they already succeeded in knocking over, etc.

And, when they finally give up, exhausted from all the chaos and mayhem they've already inflicted on the house, it’s only to curl up at your feet and claw your unsuspecting toes every time you so much as flinch. No wonder cats were slighted the “man’s best friend” endearment.