Day 30 in A Month of Gratitude, #AMOG, and today, I am #grateful for my #daughter. After having 2 sons, it was quite a delight to have a little girl, especially a ray of #sunshine that brought her #cheer wherever she went, and for whom shadows vanished as she ran into a room, lighting it up by the sheer presence of a #radiant personality. Watching her run as a child with her hair flying in the wind, and laughing as she played, I was reminded of a horse... a beautiful, strong filly, born in the year of the horse.
It came as little surprise that she eventually gravitated towards horse riding, though it was first her love of animals in general that drew her, like a magnet, to the massive beasts. She learnt to ride, and compete, had a few tumbles and eventually had to slow down because of the pressures of exams, but watching her interact with the horses, care for them, feed them and love them revealed her deep love for animals.
Nobody loves our dogs, Frodo and Sam, like she does, they are practically her babies. No one knows them quite the way she does, and it's true, we simply don't. When you're a natural born animal lover you gravitate towards creatures big and small, and you have an affinity for them and they sense it, and they bond with you and love you in return. When she was younger we had rabbits, hamsters, stingrays, fish, dogs... a regular menagerie, and I felt like I was a part of My Family and Other Animals, my fav book by Gerald Durrell. The day her stingrays died due to a malfunction of our pond pump and their extreme sensitivity to changes in water quality, she was away on a Gr 5 school trip overseas. I went to the airport to bring her home, and I told her about their passing, and she wept so sadly. We never replaced the stingrays, partly because their care involved my breeding an aquarium of fresh tiny shrimp to feed the finicky eaters, but partly because we couldnt bear the thought of them dying again.
When our labradoodle, Frodo, nearly died from eating snail bait poison sprinkled around the garden by the gardener, we rushed him to A and E and found ourselves in tears, though she was utterly devastated at the possibility of him dying. The narrow escape with Sam's intestinal blockage due to her gobbling a chunk of corn on the cob, both the dogs narrowly escaping death by cobra, and Frodo's impending blindness due to a cataract, now rectified... all of these incidents troubled us greatly, but no one felt them as deeply as she did, and she did the most to help and to care for the dogs out of her great affection for them.
They say you can tell the depths of a person's or a society's compassion by the way they treat animals, in which case she must have an endless depth to her compassion. The baby birds that have fallen from the nests in her bathroom planter that have needed rescuing, the cats in the street that needed feeding, the squirrels in the garden that looked hungry and needed food, they all drew her attention. Everywhere we travelled she found animals to love, and at home we had a constant stream of little creatures that she found herself enamoured of, and with whom she felt she had a bond. It was a delight to behold, even when it was a snake, caught and kept in a tank for a few days observation. In all these things, we have been united in our love for animals, and each other.
She wants to study Zoology, and perhaps Marine Biology as well... and some days I think to myself that I wish I was her. On the brink of great adventures, her life before her, the world her oyster, and so much to look forward to in every way. Of all my children, she has been the one to seize life in her hands and capitalise on every opportunity that has come her way. We dived together on her first SCUBA dives off Cairns, and now she's trying to get her Advanced qualifications and learn to free dive too. We share a love of the ocean and marine life, and diving with her and watching her come alive in the sea is a #joy, something that we share and treasure.
One of my fav things to do with her is to watch psychological thrillers together. A touch of mystery, an exploration of the human mind, a whiff of horror, a possible murder, maybe some romance, lots of laughs... we love it all. Snuggling up with her at night and watching a series together is the highlight of my day. We keep finding something to watch together, and I cherish the closeness while it lasts. Exchanging stories of our adventures, our ups and downs, and cheering each other on has been special because it's two women interacting now, and while I am still Ma, she's no longer a child.
Having a daughter has been a privilege. Loving and being loved by her has been special. A real blessing to have seen her grow up and retain so much of her cheerful sunniness despite clouds coming and going. Mothers and daughters do a dance, and underlying it all is a deep affection and companionship. I try to love her deeply, hold on lightly, let her go, all at the same time. I see so much of me in her, and yet a lot that is not me at all, and I am glad that she isn't a clone of me but a better person in many ways. Glad that she has a strong voice, a deep sense of self, a clear idea of what she wants in life, and a heart of compassion and love. Beauty of soul and strength of spirit rolled into one, like a lovely horse that is a delight to behold. 🐎🐎🐎
I love you more than you can imagine, and than I can ever say or show you, but I know that you know. ❤
Some of my fav pix of my only daughter.
#AMOG #AMonthOfGratitude #GratefulForDaughter #Horse #AnimalLover #Strength #Beauty #Compassion #Treasure #Sunshine #Privilege #Companionship #Snuggles #BeautifulSoul #StrongSpirit #Delight #Radiant #Joy #IMadeItThroughDayThirty
Thanks for reading,
Pav
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