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Animal Friends
Filed under UncategorizedOct 29
Sprocket was rescued from a bike shop in Birmingham, Michigan. The owner was leaving the business and could not take her with him. She came to live with my parents and settled into a senior lifestyle in Royal Oak. In 2004, the three of them moved to San Diego into a house on a beautiful palm tree-lined boulevard with a terraced lot overlooking a canyon. Sprocket thoroughly enjoyed her lifestyle, touring the gardens, sunning on the patio and watching the profusion of birds my father beckoned with multiple feeders. Indoors, she played with toys and alternately slept with both my mother and father. She had a temper and, after a fury of batting string around, would often need to cool down before resuming play. As was her practice in the bike shop, whenever anyone entered the house, she would trot to the door in her bow-legged fashion to greet them. During this time, Sprocket became especially close with my father and would speak to him with well timed meows. Intuitively, they would know what each other wanted, only needing to exchange a glance or at most a specific meow for each activity.
This winter, my parents and Sprocket moved to a senior housing apartment. While Sprocket no longer had a patio or gardens, she had a veranda to sun on with fluttering hummingbirds and an abundance of yellow Finches. My father was experiencing anemia which created periods of weakness after which Sprocket became like an appendage. She was a constant companion following his ups and downs, often more subtle than we could outwardly perceive. A couple of months ago my father entered the hospital for ten days. My mother’s neuropathy also started to act up in her legs and Sprocket slept on them. She could sense the need to heal that specific area and was a great comfort to her. Soon after, we realized she had stopped eating and was getting weak. As it turned out, she became jaundiced and I began tube feeding her. In her illness, she had lost her normal feistiness, but reserved her energy to become a warm and loving companion. Moving in with me, she quickly adapted to a new schedule and never put up a fuss with tube feeding and subcutaneous fluid IVs. Daily, Sprocket and I would visit my father in the rehab home and she would stretch, preen and embrace my father with great affection as she stayed on his bed. Often, I would put Sprocket on speakerphone and she immediately started to purr when my father spoke through the speaker. For over a month they were on a parallel healing path and she became a social personality at the rehab home, with visits from patients and caregivers alike. Sadly, she was too ill to continue, and last week, while my father was in the hospital for some tests, she could not hold on any longer. She left us with fond memories and confirmation that, in many ways, animals are our equals.
When it comes to sensitivity, spirit of life and loving devotion, animal friends are absolutely on par with what we expect from anyone, human or otherwise. Mistreatment of animals either by treating them as chattel or by the barbarism of factory farming is a symptom of a lack of compassion, which subsequently creates an ignorance of values in life. Animal friends help us understand the beautiful simplicity of love and devotion as well as teach us how effective touch healing can be. Often, it seems we have unnaturally lost much of this in human culture. Animal companionship can help us progress to a more natural state where peace, love and cognizance once again can become predominate in life.
2 Responses to “Animal Friends”
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adelphos Dimitris said on December 3rd, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Most excellent epitaph.
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Linda said on January 26th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Hi George,
I am so sorry to hear about Sprocket. I was nosing into your site today after you had sent the News Front Pages link today. Your site is beautiful, as are your writing skills. I feel as if I know Sprocket. Best wishes to your Dad and Mom! Love, L
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