Recently I came to a conclusion. I resigned myself to the fact that I will always be surrounded by animals (and no, I’m not talking about the kids…or Dave). For some reason, Dave and I are total suckers when it comes to pets. It’s a scary combination. You see, Dave actually loves taking care of animals, and I like the idea of animals. Do you see the difference? When I see a puppy, reality slips from my grasp. Soft music starts playing as my eyes lock with the puppy. I envision a scene out of a Norman Rockwell painting where my kids are frolicking in the meadow with this sweet bundle of fur.
And many times, while I am in this nostalgic stuper, my family takes advantage of me. They know I am easily swayed while in this delicate state. I give in. I wholeheartedly believe their promises. “I’ll feed it every day!” “I won’t ask for anything else ever again!” “Mommy please, I’ve been wanting ants my whole entire life!” “Snakes are really cool mom, they’re not freaky!” “My friend has 2 ferrets and says they are so awesome!”. These are just the ones I hear from the kids. Dave is much more subtle in his attempts, therefore much more convincing. He says things like, “It really won’t be that much trouble, and I can do most of the work.” Or this one “It will be good for the kids to take care of a pet”. I AM A SUCKER..
Our old yeller dog is our one true success story. He’s been with us from almost the beginning, and has the best personality. It’s just too bad the kids think he’s boring. I guess he’s just too normal for their taste. The bunny we got for Emma was high on something ALL THE TIME and eventually “ran” away to a beautiful farm somewhere. We’ve also had a guinea pig, hermit crabs, frogs, 2 other dogs, chickens and lots of fish. They are currently trying to convince me that turtles are very cool. I once held an ant farm in the car for 4 hours (that’s how much I love Ben).
This brings me to present day. Ben apparently loves birds. I’ve strongly put my foot down about birds in my house. It’s a no. When I see birds I do NOT hear the soft music playing. I do not picture a Normal Rockwell. I picture a scene straight out of the Alfred Hitchcock movie. He was bummed, to say the least, but he’s adapted. He has “pet” birds that live in the tree outside our house. He’s pretty sure their names are Blue and Rainbow, that they’re married, and are planning to have a couple kids this spring. He made them a bird feeder, and every day takes them some pretzels, fish crackers and occasionally an oreo cookie to sustain them.
Another strange development started 4 days ago. He goes out with a pretend microphone to give them the weather report. I eavesdropped the other day by cracking his bedroom window. He was talking loud and looking up into the tree. “Today’s gonna be really windy, maybe some snow, so you better stay in your nest all day guys”. Wow. The kids a die-hard. I yelled out at him “Hey, while your out there tell your friends in the tree to quit pooping on our cars!” He passed along the message.. Stay strong my friends, stick to your guns. Don’t let your kids convince you to do something crazy like I’ve done 5000 times….
