Why I HAVE to make my bed in the morning.

For most of my life, making my bed has been an optional activity. To be honest, it hasn't even been much of an option. I just never cared. That's what bedroom doors are for.

Lately, though, I find myself making my bed daily, with pleasure. It's just so much fun!

This is why. This morning, as I was heading upstairs to get ready for school, I realized that Jean-Luc, my cat, wasn't following me. He usually does, and so I called him a couple times and when he didn't appear, I went on without him.

I knew he'd be along eventually.

The first thing I did when I went into my room was go to my bed to make it. I pulled the top sheet up over the pillows. Then I heard him. From somewhere downstairs, Jean-Luc had heard bed-making noises and was flying up the stairs. He raced down the hall and into my room, leapt from just inside the doorway onto the bed, twisting in midair to land facing me with his front paws shoved under the top sheet.

Panting, eyes wide and dark with excitement, he waited. I straightened the sheet, pulled the blanket and quilt over the bed and the cat and tidied the edges that hung off of the bed. As I did this, an ecstatic cat-shaped lump moved around the bed under the covers, like a mole digging tunnels in the lawn, until he hit the edge of the bed and flopped out onto the floor, grinning.

The rest of my morning preparations were done with Jean-Luc sitting on the freshly made bed, swiping at me each time I walked past him.

Every morning I am reminded of something that children and animals seem to instinctively understand. In fact, my silly grey cat brings so much sugar to the bed-making task, I hate to miss out!