Good News & Gratitude #3
Shoutout For Joy!
Hello Beyonders!
I’m enjoying these Shoutout For Joy threads. I love hearing your stories about what excites you, what brings you to your knees in gratitude, what your hopes are for yourself and others. Big, small, in-between, the more joy, the better for all of us!
This week, and every week, I’m grateful for the animals with whom I share a home: Rudy, my sweet kitty with the gentle, easy energy of a surfer boy who loves to wrap his long body around my head at night (often using my eye socket as leverage to lower himself) or snuggle beside me when I’m working on my computer. And Delilah, my gigantic-hearted, kind of wild, kind of anxious, super curious and super friendly, loves-to-walk-and-walk-and-walk, high energy doggo.
I was born into a house of dogs and cats and hamsters and gerbils. And I was forever increasing the population by bringing home strays. My dad would make a lot of fuss and bother about how we couldn’t keep them, while my mom set about giving them a good brushing and refilling the water bowl. They always stayed. And they slept in my twin bed alongside the 1,354 stuffed animals tucked in there with us.
There’s only been one year of my life that I haven’t shared a home with an animal—and that was after my beloved kitty Tennille (yes, named after that Tennille! I was twelve when I found her starving on a golf course.) died at twenty-one. I fell into some dark days and weeks and months but finally Mathilda quite literally crossed my path on the streets of Brooklyn and a few weeks later, Lulu appeared—and my home has never been without animals since.
I am my best self in their presence. I learn from them. I am so deeply loved by them—and love them so deeply, so expansively, so completely. They make me laugh and blow open my heart. I’m most content when Delilah is sprawled, tummy up, on the couch, snoring, and Rudy is cleaning himself in the sun. This week, D helped dig holes in the garden beds for seedlings and Rudy sang me songs whilst, afterwards, I rested in the hammock. Bone-deep gratitude. And joy so buoyant, I often find myself walking around grinning.
And you: what are you grateful for this week? What’s brought you joy? What’s your good news? I’d love to hear!
A virtual friend drove downtown with her golden doodle to spend the afternoon exploring with me and Casey, my rescue mutt. I introduced her to my favorite places in this undervisited part of Toronto, which teems with history, murals and public art. Together we looked up at the biggest, oldest maple tree in these parts, worth a visit in itself. We talked about writing, dogs and life as we walked the route that inspired my tribute to the doggish life. I’m a fair bit older than my new friend, so my adolescence coincides with her infancy. I was able to clarify a point about those years as they figure in her own writing. What a joyful expedition we shared. We must do this again.
Hi Jane!
We are just back from two miraculous weeks in Uganda, where it was beyond moving to see beautiful chimps, gorillas, zebras, elephants and dozens of others free and happy in their natural habitats! The tour was led by a friend, Richard Wrangham, evolutionary sociologist and primatologist, who explained behavioral patterns and fascinating social/sexual habits. It was like "walking with the Gods" as someone put it. I posted lots of photos (baby baboons, baby gorillas etc) on FB/Insta if anyone is curious. A once-in-a lifetime trip.
Wrangham's wife, Dr. Elizabeth Ross, founded a school in 1997, the Kasiisi Project n 1997, founded Fast forward 26 years, 10,000 Ugandan girls and boys each year are being educated thanks to this project, which couples conservation education with primary school support. Ross and her husband Richard Wrangham were honored in a day-long program that brought all 16 schools together—and brought us to tears. This amazing wildlife tour we were on uses a large part of its proceeds towards this school program. Wrangham made a poignant speech to the children about how they must make sure to continue to protect the animals and land and to continue the work they are doing. A trip to remember.