What is your favorite animal?
We have three cats. Before getting my girls, I thought about getting a dog for about thirty seconds. I adopted sisters. Hannah had Ouli. Incidentally, all three cats were born on the very same day. They’re not related.
My favourite animal, however, might just be the elephant. I think I like them most because they have good memories. Intelligence is attractive. I also like how gently they appear to walk across the savannah in nature documentaries. I love watching their feet compress under their own weight with each step.
Apparently, they’re emotional creatures, too. They cry. They mourn and have gravesites. The littlest ones look so playful when running between the legs of the adults. They have family units. What wonderfully human traits for such a giants to have.
I have a photograph of a girl resting her head against an elephants while they both stand in a river. The majesty of the image captures my imagination and gently unsettles my heart. There’s a contradiction between the imposition of the elephants sheer size and the soft place on which the girls rests her forehead. The elephants forehead likely knocked down a tree earlier in the day so the elephant could eat branch – raw wood.
Cats are different. Our cats don’t really like to cuddle with me. Eloise will always sleep at Hannah’s feet, even if I move her in the middle of the night. Genevieve and Ouli find a spot on a cat bed or in a cat tunnel or in a hamper to rest for the evening. Ouli likes water and the girls could really use a bath. In my world, there is nothing more adorable than those three.
Leave a Reply