Lately, these grim times haven’t offered many reasons to laugh. But one stormy Friday night, complete with thunder, lightning, and flooding alerts for my county, something unexpected cracked a smile on my face.

🏠I got a notification from Nextdoor, the neighborhood app where locals share tips, post lost-and-found notices, or just chat about raccoons in their trash bins.

‼️Curious, I opened it and started scrolling through the usual mix of warnings and weather updates.

Then one post stopped me.

A guy named Chad had written about a cat he’d seen wandering around a few times.

📧His message went like this:

“𝙄𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚’𝙨 𝙤𝙬𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙘𝙖𝙩?

𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙛𝙚𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙧. 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙥𝙨 𝙗𝙮 𝙤𝙘𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙣 𝙀𝙙𝙜𝙚𝙙𝙖𝙡𝙚 𝘾𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙒𝙮𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙃𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙨.

𝘿𝙤𝙚𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙢 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙛𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙨𝙤 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙨 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚’𝙨 𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙙𝙤𝙤𝙧 𝙘𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙛𝙤𝙤𝙙. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙧 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙨𝙤 𝙡’𝙢 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚.

𝘼𝙡𝙨𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙨 𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙚 𝙨𝙤 𝙡’𝙢 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙜𝙣𝙖𝙣𝙩.

𝙑𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙡𝙮, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙠𝙨 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙥𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙙.
𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙤𝙧, 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙮 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙣.

𝙄𝙛 𝙣𝙤 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙩, 𝙄 𝙢𝙖𝙮 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙏𝙉𝙍.
𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙥, 𝙖𝙙𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙧𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙫𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙞𝙭 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙛 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙤𝙧𝙣.

𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠𝙨.”

When I saw the photos of the mystery cat he shared, I had no doubt.

🐈‍⬛It was Nuggy.

Our very 𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙤𝙧, very 𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙚 cat, who loves treats and sneaking out for the occasional unauthorized stroll.

But he always comes home.

👩🏼‍💻Naturally, I had to jump into the comment section and reassure the neighborhood that Nuggy is fully vaccinated, neutered, and, despite the concerning belly, will not be giving birth to kittens any time soon.

💙I’ve since gotten him a personalized blue collar. As long as he manages to keep it on, he should be safe from future identity crises.