Savannah's Art of Being a Cat

Savannah at the Vet's office. She weights 3.8 pounds!

The Art of Being Curious

Savannah has been with us for 3 weeks now and I am 100% convinced that she believes the world exists primarily for investigation. Her investigation.

This morning she spent fifteen minutes studying my shoelace.

Not playing with it exactly. Studying it.

She walked up to it slowly, tilted her head to one side, and put her nose on it. Like a tiny scientist encountering an new specimen.

Then she poked it. Then she jumped back like it was going to bite her. Then she poked it again, just to make sure she knew what she was looking at.

Finally, she decided it was both fascinating and slightly suspicious, which meant further investigation was required. So she continued.

Savannah seems to approach most things this way.

A wadded up piece of paper, a splash of light on the wall, a cardboard box that appeared in the living room. Every single one receives her full attention.

Not because she expects something extraordinary to happen. But because something might.

And that possibility seems reason enough to investigate.

Curiosity is one of the cutest things about cats. They don’t move through the world assuming they already understand it. They just assume there’s always something new to discover.

Humans, on the other hand, tend to lose this somewhere along the way. At some point we quietly decide we already know most things.

We know what foods we like.

We know what places we prefer.

We know what clothes “work for us.”

We know what kind of people we are.

And once we start to think those things, the world becomes smaller.

Savannah hasn't reached that conclusion.

Yesterday she spent several minutes sniffing my peanut butter sandwich like it was a mystery of the universe. She didn't try to eat it but she was clearly curious about it. Which, honestly, is a pretty good way to look at life.

Curiosity is what sends people traveling to new places.

Someone becomes curious about what it might be like to sit in a café in Italy.

Or wander through markets in Morocco.

Or stand on a quiet beach somewhere far from home watching the sun drop into the ocean.

Curiosity is what makes someone try a dish they’ve never tasted before.

Maybe it’s spicy.

Maybe it’s strange.

Maybe it’s absolutely wonderful.

But curiosity is what leads them to find out.

Curiosity can even show up in even smaller ways. Maybe you try on a new color you’ve never worn before. Or walk into a bookstore and pick up a book you normally wouldn’t choose.

Or take a different route home just to see what’s there.

Any small moment of curiosity can quietly expand your world.

Not always dramatically, but enough to remind you that life still has things to reveal.

Savannah doesn’t think about curiosity this way, of course. She simply sees something move and thinks, Well… that looks interesting.

Then she goes to find out.

She doesn’t worry about looking silly.

She doesn’t worry about whether the shoelace will turn out to be exciting or disappointing.

She investigates first.

She forms conclusions later.

There’s something fun about that.

We, as humans often wait to feel certain before we explore something new.

Curiosity doesn’t require certainty. It only requires interest. A tiny move forward toward the unknown.

Savannah seems to understand this instinctively. Her world is full of fun things to investigating.

She investigates all of it.

Some of it turns out to be wonderful.

Some of it turns out to be nothing at all.

But the investigation itself seems to make life more interesting.

And maybe that’s the lesson in all of this. A curious life is rarely a boring one.

Curiosity leads people to new cities, new foods, new ideas, new friendships.

It leads them down streets they’ve never walked before. Into restaurants they weren’t sure about.

Toward experiences they might never have planned.

Savannah is currently investigating a chair leg. Just in case it does something interesting.

She believes something important may be about to happen.

And judging by the seriousness of her expression…

she intends to find out.

Go try something new today!

🐾