It’s been a difficult, depressing year for many of us. Different reasons for different people, of course, but depressing none the less.

There are two ways to deal with downers*: work to mitigate them, and focus your attention on happier things.

* Let me be clear here: I’m talking about isolated depressing events. Ongoing depression is a completely different matter; one that has surprisingly little to do with specific occurrences, and that needs to be handled differently.

Some things you can work on: the result of an election, for example (right, British readers who didn’t favor Brexit?) Others, not so much.

So, with Thanksgiving approaching, take a couple of minutes to think about something you’re grateful for. Non-US readers, feel free to join in. Even if you don’t observe our holiday, there’s never a bad time to give thanks.

Last night we hit a major milestone.

Much as Rufus loves the neck skritches and tummy rubs, he hadn’t quite gotten behind the concept of laps. He’d flop on the floor of his enclosure for cuddles, and that was pretty much it. If we hoisted him into our laps, he’d stand nervously for a minute or two, then hop down and demand more pettings from the floor.

Then came last night. Maggie set him in her lap and…

Yup. He settled in. He’d probably still be there if I hadn’t startled him by starting to sneeze.

Right now, warm laps and warm, snuggly cats to sit in them are high up on my list of things to be thankful for.