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A screaming little stranger ran out of the cold and picked a family.

A tiny black kitten came running out of the cold and announced himself at full volume. He sprinted straight to this pawrent's husband, yelling and trying to climb his leg like he'd already decided this was home. With temperatures dropping into the teens overnight, there wasn't much debate. The kitten was coming inside.

He was set up in the home office, safely separated from the two resident cats, and immediately proved he was built for indoor life. He's friendly, trusting, and runs on nonstop purring. The other cats are curious but calm, watching the situation unfold without much fuss. For now, the office is his base camp, and he gets regular cuddle visits because being alone is not his favorite activity.

He's been temporarily named Tux, which suits a small black kitten who arrived dressed for the occasion. He's estimated to be around six months old, still young enough to shout his feelings and demand constant company. A vet visit and microchip scan are lined up just in case someone is looking for him, though he doesn't look like a cat who's been cared for recently.

At the moment, he's warm, safe, and loudly appreciative of both. He showed up yelling and settled into purring, which feels like a pretty clear sign he landed exactly where he meant to.

"There is no means of testing which decision is better, because there is no basis for comparison. We live everything as it comes, without warning, like an actor going on cold. And what can life be worth if the first rehearsal for life is life itself? That is why life is always like a sketch. No, "sketch" is not quite a word, because a sketch is an outline of something, the groundwork for a picture, whereas the sketch that is our life is a sketch for nothing, an outline with no picture." - The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera 

Now that we have your attention, thinking about human existence can make the mind go in various directions, awry with wonders of what could be, why, and what to do with it. Philosophers from ancient Greece got only so far in giving humanity solace for these pressing questions, these existential pleas. There's really one answer, and it's simple: cats. 

Cats give lightness to life, they exist as posits of joy and escape. We live with them, dine with them, and love them with all our hearts, and they simply sit there begging for more tuna and meowing. Instead of crying into the night's sky with your fists in the air, wondering why we're here, why life is suffering, and where are we left to go, scroll these happy and lighthearted cat memes to omit the heavy burden of life's pressure. 

"Jingle bells, cold stings like nails, let me in right meow!" 🎶

If your cat loves the snow, you probably won some life lottery. Because most cats hate the snow, they despise it. And honestly, a lot of people do, too. Sure, the snow might look beautifully dreamy, like a Disney movie, but it's also freezing cold, slippery like a life hazard, and some people think it's funny to take balls of it and throw it at you. Snow is dreamy only in dreams. But we have to admit, when a cat goes outside in the snow and discovers they like it, it's probably the cutest thing to witness.

Cats who jump in snow as if they're a bird flying through fluffy clouds is the wholesome side of this season. Winter can be harsh to cats, but when they accept it, snow really does feel like a Disney movie for a second. Magical.

But even if your cat isn't a wintery fan of the current weather, we have to appreciate the people going out and building snowmen - but specifically snowcats. Looking at a snowman, but in cat form, is like looking at more cats - and that's never a bad idea in our humble opinion.