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Showing posts from December, 2009

Why I Chose Animals

I suppose my mother had something to do with me loving animals. From the time I was five, she was bringing home creatures small enough to go undetected in our Brooklyn apartment: turtles, tortoises, and a half-moon parrot with whom I bonded so deeply that the memories of having to give him up (I had severe allergies) still fly at me like unwelcome shards of glass. I remember crying in the back seat of the car, my father double-parked with the engine running while my mother returned the bird to the pet shop. When she came back outside, she was holding a large tortoise, waving it at us, a permission seeking gesture for my father, who banged his hand on the steering wheel and yelled, "Goddamn it, Rhoda!" But we won. The tortoise came home with us. The parrot story goes deeper than simple loss of an amusing companion (which is never simple, anyway). At the time, I was five and silently enduring molestation at the hands of my paternal grandfather. I won't delve into the psyche

Our Year in Pictures

A couple of tearful farewells (Gracie and Frenchie), a grand welcoming (Luinigh), continued rollicking and frolicking (Ingrid and Baby), some souful dialogues with my four-footed clients, new personal frontiers, longer embraces with Spirit, and a whole lotta love. Steven & Luinigh Baby Luinigh My Little Frenchman Ingrid Gracie