Matthew Burnette, Staff Writer

Nearly 25 years ago, I walked into an antique store with my great-grandmother as she searched for good deals on knick knacks and tchotchkes that she could add to her already abundant collection of knick knacks and tchotchkes.

At this point, I’m wondering what exactly the difference is between the two, but I imagine there must be some since they are two different and very distinct words. If not, I apologize for being redundant.

We made our way around this antique store while she browsed and came across a shelf of kids’ books that we stopped to look through. Toys always took some convincing, but a shelf full of books was always something that we were allowed to look at and a display we could almost always get something from.

The books that immediately struck my eye were three small paperback stories featuring none other than the orange comic strip curmudgeon known as Garfield.

Created by Jim Davis in 1978, the feline lasagna aficionado has graced newspaper funny pages for decades, eventually making his way into TV and movies with varying degrees of success.

I was somewhat familiar with the character up until that point. Episodes of an old Garfield cartoon would occasionally make their way across our TV screen as a kid. While I didn’t read the newspaper as routinely at 8 as I do now, I would sometimes check out his Sunday strip if a paper just happened to be lying around.

I can also vividly remember being terrified to the point of tears watching a Garfield Halloween special as a kid, which probably isn’t something that I should’ve just admitted to, but what’s done is done.

My great-grandmother let me buy the books I had found (a total steal at a quarter a piece), and I immediately started reading them when we got in the car.

What blossomed from that purchase was a lifelong enjoyment of a cartoon cat.

I’ve tried to pinpoint exactly what it is about Garfield that brings me so much joy.

Sure, he’s at this point an enduring pop culture figure with a wide reach, but so are many other characters that I could honestly take or leave.

There’s also the factor that as I age, I find myself adopting more and more of his characteristics. I love a good piece of lasagna, my bed is one of my favorite places to be, I can sometimes be a little put off by overenthusiasm and of course there’s the whole Mondays thing…

He’s my spirit animal as they say.

But I don’t know if that’s it either.

I tend to forgo the typical fashion norms in favor of wearing clothes that display the various characters that I enjoy, Garfield included.

You probably won’s see me in a pair of regular white or black socks, and I can’t even honestly remember the last time I even wore such things, instead favoring goofy ones that feature various figures from Ninja Turtles to Snoopy, and there’s a closet and some drawers at home half full of t-shirts that feature the same.

The most expensive piece of clothing that I own is an incredibly comfy button-up shirt with, as you may have guessed by today’s theme, Garfield all over it.

While my intention is always to save it for special occasions, I more often than not find myself wearing it just out and about catching a few odd glares from the general public.

At a recent trip to the grocery store with my Garfield shirt perfectly matched with a pair of Garfield socks (along with the other clothing items necessary to be in public), I suddenly heard an odd squeak as I made my way around the produce section.

Upon turning my head to investigate, I locked eyes with an older lady standing just to my right smiling in my direction next to the potatoes.

“I LOVE Garfield,” she exclaimed.

She then proceeded to tell me about how she still owns a Garfield themed phone that she bought back in the day. I shared my affection for him as well, and as the brief conversation came to a close, she said something that I wasn’t expecting.

“Thank you for giving me a smile today.”

It was at that moment that I realized why I like Garfield: he just makes me smile.

There’s no deep analysis that needs to be done. It just is what it is, and I’m glad for it.

In a world so complex with a host of things to make you frown, it’s important to find the things that always make you smile.

Mine are the cavalcade of characters that I’ve grown up adoring. Yours could be something completely different.

What’s really cool, though, is when you can share that smile with somebody else.

It’s a moment as warm as your bed on a Monday morning or a fresh piece of gooey lasagna.