I've been thinking about all of the creatures that have blessed my life over the years. Perhaps the trip down Memory Lane was triggered because I've been writing about Poco. My father instilled in me a love for horses, but we were never in a position to live with one when I was growing up. I felt like a kid again, well into my fifties, when Poco and I became a team.
My mother was a bird lover, and my childhood home was never without some type of bird in a cage. Her fantasy was to have a canary that sang opera and a parakeet that talked like Mark Twain. I'm only half joking. She wasn't a fan of Mark Twain. One of my first memories is of my mother buying a Hartz Mountain LP specifically created to "inspire your canary to sing." The song was "Torna a Sorrento" (Come Back to Sorrento.) I played that record over and over and over until it mysteriously disappeared. To my recollection, the canary never sang a note but I did - all day long...
When I was a child, my beloved Grandma Deer lived next door. She was an animal lover, too, and had a black mixed breed dog named, Belle. When my parents brought home a Boston Terrier puppy I was beyond thrilled. We named her Penny. My parents bred her once, but none of the puppies survived. Now that I know a little bit about breeding dogs in the Brachycephalic family, I can understand why this would never have worked. My parents rarely researched anything. They thought things should just happen and were constantly disappointed when they didn't work out. I was six years old when Penny's puppies died. That same year, my mother had a miscarriage and my Grandma Deer died. Those are not happy memories.
Throughout my childhood, various animals graced us with their presence. There were rabbits, chickens, ducks, turtles, fish, birds and lots of dogs. The only time a cat ever entered our house was when a boyfriend decided I needed a kitten. When our dog saw the kitten it freaked which scared the kitten who proceeded to climb the drapes. My parents, who were not cat lovers, spent the next twenty four hours finding reasons why the kitten had to go. Sadly, it did.
When I went off to college, I was only in the dorm about two days when I became homesick - not for my family - for a dog. I saw an ad for free puppies and somehow found my way to a farm where they were giving away Border Collie puppies. It was so cute! I smuggled it into my dorm room, which was okay with two of my three roommates. The third was an uptight witch who complained about everything! She hated that I did my artwork in the middle of the night. She bitched about me playing James Taylor's "Fire and Rain" over and over and over again. Every night she clipped her toenails to nubs because, as she put it, "I hate it when people have long toenails!" Remember, this was the first week of classes! So, when I brought the puppy in I'm pretty sure Miss Persnickety narced on me. It all worked out for the best cause I met my husband through that puppy. Long story short: puppy was sick; I was sad; Andy saw me crying and offered to drive us to a vet. The puppy got better and went to live a long, happy life on my father's friend's farm. (Say that five times...)
All together, in my adulthood, these are the creatures with whom we shared our lives: Two (second Border Collie rescue; snatched from frat boys who were giving her beer and using her as a football); Heidi (German Shepherd); Molly (Pekingese); Petey (hamster); Bandit and Jessie (hamsters); Ned (parakeet); Rocky (insane Boxer); Ariel (daughter's Shih Tzu); Lucky (son's Jack Russell Terrier); Simon (Chihuahua); Maddy (French bulldog); Missy and Teddy (her daughters); Poco (mare); Buddy (Poco's goat); Jack (Bullmastiff); Seven (daughter's Chihuahua/Jack Russell); Rooney (female Bullmastiff); Eli, Finn and Chance (Ragdoll cats); Fancy (Tuxedo cat); Roxy (bunny) and Petey II (hamster). There was also a variety of exotics whose names escape me: snake, hermit crabs and domestic rats. And, I can't forget to mention the granddogs - all of which were/are rescues and amazing. There was Sarah (sweet, sweet Black Lab mix); Gabe (Yellow Lab mix, and quite possibly the most incredible dog/human I have ever met); Lady (Pit bull/Basenji mix - who loves our daughter more than life itself and vice versa); Spike (Lord only knows what he is, but crazy is in there somewhere); Winthrop (Chihuahua, who thinks I'm a Chihuahua killer.)
Every single one of those critters came into our home under protest from my husband. However, he cried with me when our Petey I (the greatest hamster that ever lived) died. We consoled each other over our losses throughout the years (except for the rats, the likes of which he never acknowledged.) He spent a fortune on Poco's vet bills without ever complaining. Every single night of the Frenchies' lives was spent on his lap and he is now joined every night by two Bullmastiffs trying to (both) do the same. Their combined total weight is 300#.
In so many ways, animals have brought me joy as well as sadness; laughter and tears. I've learned a lot about myself, and the things I never thought I could do, which became routine. In caring for Poco, I had to learn how to give meds and even shots. She had the equine equivalent of asthma, so we used an inhaler on her. At first she was terrified of the mask we had to put over her face to dispense the inhalant. It was my husband who calmed her down so she would let us put it over her face. Eventually, she came to realize the dreaded mask was actually a good thing.
At one time, there were so many ill and aging animals in the house, I nearly lost my grip. One day, I absentmindedly swallowed Simon's heart medication. The pills were in my hand and I just popped them into my mouth! They were on the way down before I realized what I had done. I called the vet, but they had never had a client do this before so they suggested I call Poison Control. After the operator stopped laughing she assured me I would be ok.
As I look back over the years, I can see how animals seemed to come into my life precisely when I needed them. Usually it started out the other way around, like with Poco, until I realized I was the one being rescued. I do not have an explanation for this. I don't need one.
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