I was hard at work on my newly upgraded server earlier today, installing libraries, creating databases, moving code. It was so nice to have all that room and I wasn't paying too much attention to my surroundings.

Well, my little girl, Zoe, was having none of this. First she dragged her feather in, plopping it down on my feet. When I didn't pay attention, she started clawing at my tennis shoe, batting at the lace. When that failed, she jumped up on my lap. I assumed that she was going to curl up and sleep. Instead, she laid down next to my arm, wrapped all her feet tightly around it, and placed her head across it - snuggling as close as she could get, eyes closed in pleasure.

It's hard to work with a 9 pound cat wrapped around your arm. I tried to move her and she demonstrated her displeasure at my behavior by biting me. Not hard, but with enough pressure to get her point across.

What could I do? I turned on the music and cuddled her close, looking out the window at the birds as she slept in my arms, head nestled into the crook of my elbow.

Don't you wish, when faced with friends and family who are "too busy", that we could crawl up on their laps, wrap our bodies around them, and bite them when they don't get the hint?

I think we lost too much when we got an opposable thumb and started learning how to communicate complex thoughts.