Cindi says at RevGals: Animals are on my mind this week. Pictured are two cats we adopted together in 1990: Leather (left) and Lace. Leather was the stealthy hunter and Lace was the demanding princess. They stayed with us for 15 years. On Easter 2005 we came home to find Lace in rigor with her paw on the chair looking like she had been trying to jump up. Leather passed a few months later.
My wife Mary and I have had a lot of animals live with us over the years, and we like to see them in the wild as well. I’m betting a lot of you like animals too. So my challenge for us this week is to write about animals. Tell us about an animal you know: perhaps one of your pets, or the pet of a friend or family member, or the cat that hangs around the church.
So....this is Boudreaux, my Maltese boy.He's just had a bath here (yeah, and already covered with leaves.)
He's 11 years old and fairly crippled up with some congenital issues that affect that breed, and also arthritis. He is a very laid-back boy, and he doesn't often approach us for affection; but when we pick him up and hold him in a chair or in bed for scratches, he will first punch the purveyor of the scratching, if it stops, to get more. Once he's had enough, he goes to sleep in one position and doesn't move for hours. He will stare into your eyes like the most tender lover. He's very meditative. He likes to sit outside in the driveway, or preferably the front yard, and observe things and smell the air. If anyone walks by, he barks. If a big dog walks by, he tries to get through the fence to attack them. It's ridiculous, it never ends well for him. I love him to distraction.
What’s your favorite real animal? Walking stick bug? Penguin? T-Rex? Echidna? Red Tailed Hawks:
If I see one or more, it feels like a benison, or extra good luck. I often see them on my way to church, down Interstate 35 West.
What’s your favorite fantasy/mythological animal? Unicorns? Hippogryphs? The World Turtle, the Great Tortoise that bears the world on its back:
What’s your favorite fictional animal – Scooby Doo? Garfield the Cat? Grape Ape?
I'm particularly fond of Proginoskes, or Progo...a cherubim from Madeleine L'Engle's A Wind in the Door.
What animal best represents who you are today, and why? Is it an animal that exhibits fierceness? Or one that’s loyal? A turtle.Here's a redeared slider, one of my favorites.
I gave a 2 minute talk once in a college speech class about how the animal that represented me was a turtle. Looking back, I can't believe I made myself that vulnerable to that group, but I did. That class was such a gift to me, because before I took it I was terrified to speak to people. Afterward, I was not. Anyway, as an Enneagram 9 the turtle still represents me...though in different ways than it did that summer of 1986 (?). I've grown so much. I don't spend nearly as much time in my shell. I am much better at planning when I need to go there and working around other things.
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