And so we begin...

I have to admit, I've always been crazy for animals. I had beagles, mutts, St. Bernards, ponies, mice, a Bantam rooster, rabbits, runty pigs, goldfish, orphaned lambs, toads, retired lab rats, hamsters, guinea pigs and a bunch of affectionate outdoor cats while growing up on our acreage in Iowa. My grandmother told me that once, when I was very young, I even begged her to help me catch a skunk that I'd cornered outside.

If you had asked me as a child if animals could talk, and if I could understand them, the answer would have been a wide-eyed, "Yes, of course. Can't you hear them?" Children have an instinctive sympathy for and understanding of animals. I feel fortunate not to have completely lost the wonder and joy of communicating with them, though not on the same level that I did as a child -- who can? I've been around the world (some would say, around the bend!) a bit since then, and some of the innocence has gone away. But I've lost none of the real magic of knowing and loving a puppy, or stray cat, or even a one-eyed white rat named Oedipus Rex. I feel blessed to have had so many wonderful four-footed (and one three-footed) friends in my life, and have learned amazing things about the world because they were in it, sharing it with me.

This blog will help me share some of those special moments with you, and tell how I came to be a Delta Society Pet Partner therapy animal handler and member of Intermountain Therapy Animals' R.E.A.D. program with some of my animal companions. I'll try to enter current events as they unfold, and when I need to give a little background to help you understand the present, I will indicate it like this:

Flashback: (etc., etc., etc.)

I hope you won't find it too confusing. It seems to work in the movies...