• Lucky me that I had a Mother who modeled ‘do not harm’.  While she was not an animal person in all reality, she did go along with my many, many animal adventures as a young girl.  I grew up during a time when there were no pet stores I ever knew. And yet my love for all animals was such an innate part of my being, that I seemed to be ‘positioned’ to find many, or have them turn up in the places I’d hike, bike, run, or hide.  They seemed to find me, follow me, or just be there.  Once I turned over a rock and there was a snake on a dollar bill, but wedged in such a way that he was trapped with his riches.  Another snake needed rescuing from an area of picnickers, and sitting on my lap decided to deliver her dozens of babies right there. (Oh, and the two winter ‘rescue’ snakes that disappeared into our home and showed up 6 months later, quite thirsty and hungry!) My mother brought me a day old kitten, the only survivor on the road in a busy industrial area of Oakland, my first experience at night feedings with an eye dropper…and only the beginning of many encounters, and dozens of kittens/cats I continue to rescue and bring home!  My mother helped me navigate my intense feelings of responsibility and sensitivity as I had intricate funerals for the animals I helped and lost, and shed more tears than I can count. I cared for an injured hawk that flew down our chimney, raised alligator lizards that would have loved taking my fingers for finger food, brought home box turtles from the creek who sunned […]