This summer was an absolute mess, but at least there was one redeeming beacon of light on the internet: a Twitter thread of kittens growing up.
Keeping up with current events is an exhausting process. During this summer alone, there were resignations, convictions, and countless tweets from a certain Commander in Chief. Sure the memes were fun, but the scrolling through Twitter is a bit like looking for treasure in a dumpster on fire.
The only consistently good content on Twitter was a thread that has been documenting the lives of four newborn kittens, their mama cat, and a very proud human dad.
In late May, Paris Zarcilla's life changed forever when a pregnant cat waltzed into his room, made a nest under his bed, and gave birth to four tiny kittens.
"Trying to adjust to the catshit crazy reality of going upstairs to grab a jumper but instead finding a cat and 4 kittens," Zarcilla tweeted. "Am I a dad now?"
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He took his new role as a father figure seriously, putting work on hold and canceling his orders for comics and single malt whiskey to budget for his new children.
The arrival of the furry newborns vastly improved his mental health -- Zarcilla tweeted that he deals with frequent anxiety attacks and depression, and that before taking in the kittens his "capacity to deal with it recently has been waning."
"The Cat Gods have smiled upon me with benevolence and turned the monsters under my bed into kittens," he tweeted.
LOOK at these little faces! How could you not fall in love with this?
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Enraptured Twitter users joined Zarcilla on the rollercoaster of emotions as he realized that this might have been someone else's cat. Although the mother couldn't be separated from her kittens for six weeks, Zarcilla had to face the heartbreaking possibility that if she was microchipped, he would have to give her back to her original owner.
"But my dad instincts have kicked in so hard," he tweeted. "Fuck. I want this."
He also held off on naming the little fluffs, because "naming them makes it a full on commit."
"That's giving 100% of my heart," he posted. "And if they have to go that's 100% heartbreak."
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The tiny babies sleep with their tongues out. WITH THEIR TONGUES OUT.
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Zarcilla went full cat dad -- to the point where he started comparing the babies to human newborn children.
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During the absolute shitstorm that was the 24-hour news cycle this summer, this tiny kittens were opening their eyes, learning to walk, and getting milk drunk.
When tensions were high during the summit with the U.S. and North Korea, the kittens were just living life. No matter how stressful and disastrous the world seemed, the kittens stayed adorable. Zarcilla's thread recording their growth became an oasis of adorableness in a sea of trash hot takes.
Zarcilla seemed to reflect on that, too. After discovering the kittens, three people he knew passed away on the same morning.
"It seems I'm set to explore the full spectrum of human emotion," he tweeted. "I've been pondering the brevity and marvels of life. Which is very easy when you're cradling and looking into the eyes of this fragile floof."
He announced his plans to write a children's book inspired by his kitten parenting, because "life's too short not to and I really need to write a happy ending."
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After caring for the kittens and their mother -- referred to as the Queen -- for almost a month, Zarcilla announced that he definitely plans on keeping all five cats.
"Officially gone cray," he said in an updated. "It's time to admit they've completely changed my life."
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His cat dad status was finally cemented when a scan at the vet revealed that the Queen wasn't microchipped -- which mean that Zarcilla could keep her and her brood.
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Zarcilla's almost daily updates on his little family were the highlights of Twitter. My day became infinitely better when I scrolled past photos of the kittens attempting to climb out of their Lego fortresses. While wildfires raged in California, the rambunctious babies played in their new throne room.
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"I've never been on the receiving end of so much positivity on social media but it is unique moments like this that reinvigorate my belief in humanity," Zarcilla posted.
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Zarcilla understood the feeling he passed to others through his posts. In a heartfelt statement he posted, he said that he felt "anxious yet equal parts happy that my Twitter feed has provided some joy and respite to so many of you."
"Cats are bewildering creatures," he wrote. "Who knew that just a mere picture of a kitten in blep mode was enough to disperse a day or even weeks' worth of anguish in moments."
Despite the daily messages he receives about the kittens, he said that he should "be the one who should be giving thanks every day for such a life changing gift."
Although the summer is drawing to a close, Zarcilla has no plans to stop updates. He's been keeping up with posting pictures of the cats.
"What a weird and wondrous journey this has been," he said. "And may it long continue."
