I just opened a fresh bag of dog food for Macy. It's a happy day for her. She gets really excited and follows me with the new bag on my shoulder through the house.
Today though, I was a little sad as she ate.
Macy just turned 7, so for the first time at the pet store I was able to buy the dog food for "Senior Dogs," who are "7+ Years." As she ate it, I was reminded that she is, in fact, now a senior dog, and I was sad.
Most people who know me know I love my dog. Most people probably don't know that I really love animals in general. Like all animals. At any given time I'm just a few life-circumstances away from being a crazy animal lady.
At the risk of revealing too much, in college I had a various 15 animals that lived in tanks in my living room at different times: 2 giant goldfish, 2 leopard geckos, 2 African dwarf frogs, 2 red-ear slider turtles, 4 hermit crabs, a betta, a house gecko, and an algae eater.
That was just college. Growing up I had many other pets, almost any that I could talk the adults in my life into letting me have. Dogs, cats, birds, fish, hamsters, hermit crabs, and on and on...
I've also attempted many animal rescues. I once shooed a GIANT snapping turtle off of a curve in West Virginia with a tennis racket and a guy I just started dating. I didn't want it to get ran over, so I risked both my and my boyfriend's fingers and toes, and also getting hit by a car, to get it safely off the road. I like to introduce my boyfriends to my crazy early just to get it out of the way, like a trial by fire.
Then there was the time I discovered that my aunt's dogs had just killed a duck sitting on her nest. So naturally I hauled her 8 eggs into my house, set up an incubator, and promptly turned those things every 6 hours, day and night for weeks. I was worried about the ducklings. They never hatched and I was sad. I was 22.
Fun Fact: I applied to the University of Florida to study ichthyology, and wanted to specialize with sharks. Life took a different turn, since I'm not writing this from a boat and I don't smell like fish, but I still know far far too much about sharks to not be a 10-year old boy.
I'm sure that at least part of my love of animals comes from my high capacity for empathy, which clearly extends beyond just people (I've had many more outrageous escapades on the behalf of people). The other part probably comes from the 6 year-old me living inside me who never matured.
My current priorities in life aren't conducive to having many animals living in my home (see above: escapades on the behalf of people). I also don't divulge this love of almost-all-living-things in daily conversation, since most adults don't like to sit around talking about animals. I like to think if I have kids one day, they'll love animals too and together we can accumulate many many pets.
But for now I focus all of my empathetic, inner-child, animal-loving attention on my dog. She's my friend and my companion. And now she's a senior. I'm just not quite ready for that.
Today though, I was a little sad as she ate.
Macy just turned 7, so for the first time at the pet store I was able to buy the dog food for "Senior Dogs," who are "7+ Years." As she ate it, I was reminded that she is, in fact, now a senior dog, and I was sad.
Most people who know me know I love my dog. Most people probably don't know that I really love animals in general. Like all animals. At any given time I'm just a few life-circumstances away from being a crazy animal lady.
At the risk of revealing too much, in college I had a various 15 animals that lived in tanks in my living room at different times: 2 giant goldfish, 2 leopard geckos, 2 African dwarf frogs, 2 red-ear slider turtles, 4 hermit crabs, a betta, a house gecko, and an algae eater.
That was just college. Growing up I had many other pets, almost any that I could talk the adults in my life into letting me have. Dogs, cats, birds, fish, hamsters, hermit crabs, and on and on...
I've also attempted many animal rescues. I once shooed a GIANT snapping turtle off of a curve in West Virginia with a tennis racket and a guy I just started dating. I didn't want it to get ran over, so I risked both my and my boyfriend's fingers and toes, and also getting hit by a car, to get it safely off the road. I like to introduce my boyfriends to my crazy early just to get it out of the way, like a trial by fire.
Then there was the time I discovered that my aunt's dogs had just killed a duck sitting on her nest. So naturally I hauled her 8 eggs into my house, set up an incubator, and promptly turned those things every 6 hours, day and night for weeks. I was worried about the ducklings. They never hatched and I was sad. I was 22.
Fun Fact: I applied to the University of Florida to study ichthyology, and wanted to specialize with sharks. Life took a different turn, since I'm not writing this from a boat and I don't smell like fish, but I still know far far too much about sharks to not be a 10-year old boy.
My current priorities in life aren't conducive to having many animals living in my home (see above: escapades on the behalf of people). I also don't divulge this love of almost-all-living-things in daily conversation, since most adults don't like to sit around talking about animals. I like to think if I have kids one day, they'll love animals too and together we can accumulate many many pets.
But for now I focus all of my empathetic, inner-child, animal-loving attention on my dog. She's my friend and my companion. And now she's a senior. I'm just not quite ready for that.
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| Hang in there Mae |
