Beth, Walt and Alice: My Family of Animals to Match My Family of Children

As I sat to post this stream of consciousness piece for Just Write Tuesday, I realized... wow, my animal children DO match my human children. Two girls and a boy. Two dogs and a cat. All equally loveable and so very different.

Anyway - now let's take a few moments to step back into this afternoon when I caught my eldest pet, Beth, up to some pretty everyday Beth-like stuff.

I am not sure if Beth the dog thinks she is a large cat that barks or a four legged human that eats out of a bowl on the floor. She has this knack for climbing on the top of “the monstrosity, also known as a recliner in my living room. She noticed Alice the cat

Walt and Beth on the couch as I write... sitting up there and perhaps got envious. “Such a great view… I can see ALL the people walking by, including those four legged ones and oh, the cats that like to play on the lawn right outside the window – and yes, I have the honor of announcing the daily apocalypse that Mommy calls ‘it’s just the mailman!’ which, quite frankly I don’t understand.

I am not sure why I insisted on building a family of pets last Fall when I was so excited to have an empty home to create within while the children are away at school during the day. Beth was a completely conscious choice but Walt was more a conscious breaking out of his yard to be discovered by me, running down the street.

Samuel and I chased him down, assisted by another young man who said, “Ma’am, Ma’am, do you need help?” He knows to respect motherly people running not much like the wind down a main street.

Walt stopped running, turned and looked at me and I opened my arms and said, “Oh, sweetheart, come here…” so he did. That was it. I got him cleaned up and neutered and then there were two dogs.

Alice the cat, sitting on my desk as I write Alice the cat came shortly after Beth. She was a little ball of white fluff when she first joined our family but now she has grown into a unique, white and very light beige – ecru, perhaps, smallish cat. Just today I noticed some tiger stripes in a very faint brown had covered her legs. She has been my most chameleon cat and also one of the most social.

Maybe that is what it is: the animals are here to keep me company and to keep me social during times when I would normally just sleepily pass the day with my head in the sand. With them, I take notice of the daily comings and goings.

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Julie Jordan Scott is a Creative Life Coach, a Poet Performer, a Writer and a Mommy Extraordinaire. Stay in touch with her via twitter or facebook or you may always call or text her at 661.444.2735 to arrange a complimentary coaching session.

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