Currently, to date, God has not blessed me with children of my own. What he has blessed me with however, are my animals, George, Charlie & Lily Armstrong. My children of the four legged variety.
How sweet it is to come home to three faces that are so happy to see me. What else is there in life?
I've always been an animal lover. Always. Animals have always been an integral part of my family and home life and always will be. I love all animals (except spiders but they don't count) and I abhor animal cruelty. I will never understand people who don't love animals or who would ever hurt an animal. It makes my blood run cold. My pets have it good in our home. Because that's how you treat a family member. With love :-)
Charlie was the first. He arrived one night as a chapter in my life was closing. I was celebrating my friend Bradley's Birthday with a BBQ at my house. I was also wallowing in my own self pity, as it was the same day I had left my job due to illness. Later in the evening, while the beers were flowing, laughs were being had and the pain of the day had given way to the Birthday celebrations, in walked my little man, Charlie. Bold as you like, he made friends with everyone. I realised quickly that he was likely to be a stray but as he had no collar we couldn't be sure that someone didn't love him. He stayed outside that night but in the morning, he marched up the back steps and through the cat door in the screen (which we had never used prior and most of the time forgot even existed) and promptly plonked himself on my bed. Panicked, I rang my Mum. Should I feed him? What if he belongs to someone? What if they love him and miss him? Well, you'd be right in thinking that I was never going to let him starve and so I fed him. And in my home he stayed. That was 2 years ago. I'm pretty sure he's not going anywhere....my little Ghetto cat.
When we returned home from overseas, I was yearning for something else to look after. I'm horticulturally inept so it was not worth my while to try and keep a plant alive. So we opted for a dog. I wanted a Labrador. And it was as simple as that. And as if it was meant to be, I stumbled across an ad at my local vet surgery, Herriot House, for pure bred yellow labradors. That same afternoon, I took my friend Ryan to Oakey and we came back with George. He's dumb as a box of hammers and I'm sure he's defective, but during the darker parts of the past year, it is George who has regularly put a smile on my face. He loves me unconditionally, just as I love him. He's mad as a snake however, and he has a cast iron stomach. To date, he has eaten paint stripper, a painters mask, cigarettes, glass, plastic, bras, stones, socks, birds (that he didn't catch), shoes and the list goes on. He malts blonde hair everywhere and jumps a lot. But he's George. My curious George. Always happy to see anyone and everyone, as they have not come to MY house to visit ME, they have come to see him....of course. He sits with me when I cry, with his head in my lap and insists on taking up the entire bed at night time. It's sometimes inconvenient to wake up with paws in your face in the morning...but I love him. He is my 40kg shining light.
And then there is Lily. I kind of got sucked in with Lily. Small dogs are not my favourite animals but I desperately needed something to look after when my Husband left, and George needed a friend. I also was feeling slightly unsafe at my home at the time. And given that George would likely lick anyone to death before he ate them, a "noise maker" seemed like a good idea at the time. My Sister's dog, Dot, was having pups and when I attended Michele's 40th Birthday in Theodore at the start of the year, guess who came home with me??? Yep. You guessed it. She's a silky X foxy and is a b*tch with a capital B. She's needy, she's painful, she chews everything and she yaps. But again, I love her. She marches around my house like she owns it and has George wrapped around her little finger. I reckon I could learn a thing or two from her! But it's nice to be needed. It's nice to have someone love you, just as you are.
The three of them get along famously and adore each other. George & Lily especially are inseparable. I think that Charlie mostly tolerates the other two (especially when they insist on pinning him down and giving him kisses all the time) but he's patient and has never attacked either of them. Charlie is definately the alpha male in my house, Ghetto cat and all, he is a force to be wreckoned with.
They don't care if the house is a mess or my hair is out of place or if I'm in my pyjamas. When I feed them VIP Dog Roll, it might as well be rib fillet steak. It's gone in 30 seconds flat. As long as I feed them and cuddle them, they're happy. In turn, they wag their tails and smile at me when I come home. I've never come home to anyone so excited to see me....every day. They cuddle me at night if I'm lonely and let me know if I'm not safe. They are part of my life and we all come as a set. If you don't like it, too bad. If inside animals are not your thing, don't visit. If jumpy happy dogs and ghetto cats with attitude are not your thing, it's a really sad story. I don't care. They are a part of me.
So today, I'm grateful for....my "Kids". A really special part of my life :-)
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