When I went away for college, I left my young cat at my parents house. The first thing I did when I came back for a visit a couple months later was sit on the ground of the back porch. Suddenly a huge raccoon size animal came bounding at me. It was my cat. He as overjoyed to see me! It was the coolest thing!
I've had cats that were mad that I went out of town and would ignore me for a few hours. But come night time they had forgiven me and were very affectionate. 4951