Friendships

I love animals. I find it so much fun to watch their antics, their handling life and the way they all have their own personalities (animalalities?).

I can remember as a child going to my grandfathers house on the lake. He had a dock and on the left side of the dock was a small peninsula. I used to love to sit and watch the otters play, sliding down the hill and into the water. They seemed to have so much fun as a family.

As an adult we took the kids camping and I loved the animals then too. Skunks, foxes, raccoons and other critters used to be joining our family. We put stuff out for the skunks just to bring them into our site. Do you know they do not want to spray any more than you want them too? No startling moves and they are fine. I loved it!

I was always one of those people who would have some critter follow me home. Even as an adult, they follow me. Jack rabbits stand up and listen to me talk to them and not run off. The neighbors goats come running, the cows in the other pasture come to me and I can usually calm an animal before they take off or growl too long.

However, I also love to watch animal friendships. They are sometimes more odd than people friendships. Over the years I have seen cats adopt puppies and puppies cats. Here in Texas there are these birds that look like small sea gulls or something and they hang around the cows. They go up to the cows mouths, ride on their backs picking bugs off, or just riding and hanging around them in general. We have a roadrunner that loves to come just outside our dogs reach and they watch each other.

In 1977 we got a 5 week old black kitten from a friend. This kitten grew up to be 28 lbs and a great cat. Some time later we were given a black lab puppy and the two became friends. They had a game between them. It was always started by the cat climbing up into a chair in the dining room and when Cindy (the dog) walked by, Tom would swat her on the head, jump over her and start running. Cindy would then give chase. Around the hall, through the living room, the dining room, back into the hall, up the stairs, about the bedroom, down the stairs, through the living room, dining room, hall, well, you get the picture. The game then ended when the cat would jump back on the same chair, hit Cindy on the head and lay down. Cindy went off and laid down too and it was over, till the next time Tom wanted to play.

Many years later this same cat made friends with our cockatiel, Godzilla. Godzilla could talk a lot and learned to call the cat "here kitty, kitty, Tom cat, here kitty kitty". Tom would come running in, well as fast as a 19 year old cat can run, and lay down on the floor. Godzilla would then fly down and clean the area between Tom's ears on the top of his head as well as just sit by him. They were friends till Tom died.

Saturday I was looking through some email and following some links and ended up being reminded of friendships, first in the animal world and then realizing people friendships can be just as odd. For some funny animal friendships look here, here and here.

God made us all unique with no two exactly alike. Think of your friends and those you like to be around. Are they opposite you? Have a lot the same as you? Are they the way you wish you could be but are not? Are you trying to learn from them? Are you and your best friend as nutty a pair as some of these animals or are you the same?

Be thankful for your friends. Let them know you are thankful for them. No matter how you are matched or mismatched we can all learn from each other, encourage each other and help each other grow. Even if your friend


is a porcupine and you an armadillo.