Even without being looked for, sometimes joy just falls out of nowhere and you have to exclaim, ‘Well, I never!’ It was that way yesterday Evening as mother and daughter shared a recipe and ingredients to make a deconstructed fish and chips Friday evening dinner.

I’d been enjoying the friendly cooking comparisons, from one corner of my attention, and then the meal, of course, as we clinked virtual glasses and dug in. When the kitties settled down in their remote location, I was thrilled to spot, and then to catch an image of the scene. I think our daughter was relating how delighted her familiars are when she returns home from another challenging day. You could say they have a kind of domestic cat joy as they make happy purring noises together and race around the house.

But just experience a moment of shared fun, as quick and easy as that, and you can feel the joy percolating, burbling, purring out. You don’t have to be actively searching for joy, just receptive to it.

It’s a lesson I have to learn, and learn again, but the re-learning doesn’t diminish the little thrill, the soupçon of joy, that arrives when you least expect it.