Growing up with animal lovers was sometimes quite challenging:
- Walking into the bedroom and finding my sister’s Catfish, Hotstuff (named for the Diana Ross song) on the floor was extremely disconcerting, not to mention stressful as I tried to scoop him back into the tank without squishing him! She trained him to jump out of his tank, which he did repeatedly even when we were not encouraging him.
- Rescuing stray cats & dogs and then agonising about what to do with them, happened more times than I can recall.
- Weeping over fish, hamsters, rabbits & dogs who passed on, also happened more times than I would like.
- Dealing with my siblings’ love of exotic reptiles was pretty tough; think: chameleons perched on my sister’s shoulder (she adopted 3 of them, named Dude 1, 2 and 3, when she was in Zimbabwe) or a Boa constrictor coiled around her shoulders – shudder! Fortunately, the snake stayed in the nature reserve! My brother wasn’t much better – there were all manner of arachnids & reptiles around him, the most memorable being a tokay, a gecko he adopted from Chiangrai. Again, shudder!
But when all is said and done, there is nothing quite like the unconditional love of pet.
Feature photo: Younger Daughter (at about 9 months) sharing a moment with Brooke, my mom’s Corgi.
All things bright and beautiful 
your photo si super cute – but I know two children that caught stuff from a pet – one was seriously ill – and so I now cringe to see that. and I once heard that even though dogs saliva and their stomach can handle germs more than we can – well their saliva can transfer stuff to us that we cannot handle – and some will (or can) lie dormant until later –
]anyhow, not to be a downer, but parasite infections are more rampant than folks realize and well, pets are sometimes carriers even with their vet meds – well enough from me on that –
but it sounds like you grew up around some of the sweetest folks because pet lovers are usually awesome people – and you are right “nothing quite like the unconditional love of pet.” ahhhhh
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If I knew half the dangers that potentially surrounded my kids when they were growing up, I think I would have been a neurotic basket case.
My Dad’s philosophy was that a little dirt was good for the kiddies, so I went with that.
Having said this, even though my girls are teens now, illness (especially accompanied by fevers) can still get my anxiety up!
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I hear ya loud and clear – and ya know, there are studies about kids not being well because they grew up in too sterile of an environment.
so you are right on – we need germs and microbes and all that to help our immune system to be strong.
I guess I am referring to some more chronic conditions that get called auto immune disorders – I firmly believe they are related to some very overlooked intestinal parasites – and maybe it just takes healing and living it to see – but with all that said –
pets are such a gift – such a gift – I just use wisdom from our experience – oh sorry to ramble and thanks for letting me even chime in with this. 🙂
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I love that you have taken so much interest in our conversation!
Actually, it is a constant struggle for me because I am a natural worrier. But the turning point for me I think was when my older daughter was 3 months old and we decided to take her to Brisbane (husband had to travel on business). There were so many things to pack, so many issues to think through – when we got on the plane, I was so tense & anxious, the poor kid just had such a bad time because I think she sensed my stress.
During that trip, I had lots of time for reflection (while husband was working). I came to the realisation that our children take cues from us. And at that age, they sensed a lot of what we did. That’s when I decided that I had to make a decision to take it all down a notch.
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oh so well said – and i still do this very thing.
for example – older teens – one in college – and was talking the other day (about a different topic that was passionate to me as well – lol) but I reminded myself that a quieter voice is received better and also makes things less tense. even though the son i was talking too is the type that never gets stressed too much – could be a surgeon – ha!
but you are so right – our kids feel our stress and all of our moods -and two things I have learned is that as I grew with everyone here – I did not model perfection – but improvement – and I also modeled for them how we cope and adjust to imperfections and learning curves. ya know?
but the other thing I learned is that so often the momma does set the tone for the entire house.
I hate the saying “happy wide is happy life” because come on please, if the man is not happy (content) things suck pretty badly.
but with that said, there is a way imbedded in our nurturing and the role we sometimes have – esp if we stay home more than some –
but tit sounds like you have some thing super healthy going on – which is that ongoing assessment and then really caring about giving your best –
truly that is the essence of health – staying open to change and humble enough to adapt – oh and then for me – I noticed different kids needed different changes from me – hmmmmm
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What an amazing capture! I had to laugh aloud at this photo. So cute!
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