Contentment

Max spent his night with my coworker the other night. She's going to be taking care of him while I am gone, and we decided it was important to get him used to her house. I realize that he is an animal, and would hate to ever consider myself one of "those people", but he is so important to me. He is absolute and unconditional love, he is constant, he is happy, and he is unequivocally mine. Leaving him is going to be hard. He doesn't seem to fall under the same category as the people in my life; while they are capable of understanding the tie that binds us together remaining through my adventures, Max is not. There is no explaining to an animal that you will be back, they only know you are gone.
I asked on the facebook site for this trip what everyone was doing to prepare. I don't want to use their answers, but I love knowing how people are getting ready. It's like that party question; If the world were to end tomorrow, what would you spend today doing? Maybe one day I'll get to the point where I'll be able to honestly say that I am so happy with the way I live my life that I would spend today doing exactly what I spend every day doing. That's the goal right now; to continue living my life the way that I am right now, because I know that's what I will miss the most.
Today, Max comes back to my house for my weekend. I cannot wait to spend the evening with him in my apartment. Maybe I have reached the point where the most I want to do is what I am already doing. I believe that's called contentment.