Ever since I was a little girl, I remember my mother always bringing home some kind of hurt or wounded animal to care for...yes...you read that right...it was my mom...not me or my siblings. Usually it's the child bringing such creatures home...but in our family it was our mom. We were always excited and anxious to see how the healing process would go...and to learn about a new kind of animal. I really did enjoy that as a child and am glad my babies now get to be a part of that as well; my mother recently started volunteering for the ARC - Animal Rescue of the Carolinas. It's an awesome network of folks dedicated to taking care of abandoned baby opossums to squirrels with broken legs and anything and everything in between...what healers they are! I have absolutely NO "healing" attributes...my mom stored all of those up for herself...hee hee...but what she did bless me (and my brother and sister) with was a love and compassion for animals of all sorts. We've had flying squirrels, raccoons (who've come back to our family's house and proudly shown us their own little families - yes - really!!), birds of different sorts, etc. I remember my dad even jumped on board (begrudgingly) and brought home two little black kittens that were about to be run over on the side of the road one night...we gave one away to a family friend and kept the other...he was the tiniest runt of a cat I've ever seen...we named him Eclipse, he stole our hearts.
Nowadays my mom & dad's home is filled with National Geographic magazines, Wildlife magazine and North Carolina Wildlife magazine. My mother's love of animals isn't just local. Several years ago, she actually got to go and work with some wolves up in Minnesota, that were being readied to return to the wild. I remember her excitement to be able to experience that & it has been one of the highlights of her life.
Many of the animals my mom has worked with really seem to bond with my her...it's as if they can "feel" her caring and nurturing them back to health. Some have stayed around the house...or outside of the house as I mentioned above, it's as if they know it's a "safe haven" for them. I'll always thank my mother for showing me such graciousness and compassion for God's creatures.
xoxo -
Kasey
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