My cousin’s son got married last May. I hadn’t seen him in more than a year and I didn’t attend the wedding. Instead I chose to remain at home to nurse a cat who had suffered an insulin related seizure the day before. My cousin did not understand this and only just started speaking to me again. I suspect she thought her cold shoulder would be viewed as indicative of her disapproval, I cannot say I viewed it as much of a loss.

It’s not the first time I’ve missed an event to tend the needs of an animal and it will not be the last. My priorities were set years ago when I’d skip school to feed the strays in the neighborhood. I can still remember my mother asking why my history book smelled like bologna. I sometimes wonder if it might not have been easier just to tell her the truth as opposed to hiding the slices among the Bill of Rights but then again I sometimes wonder if there hasn’t come to be something oddly transparent in the pages of such an act.

I suppose it can be said that I knew early on in life that it would be my calling to care for animals. My father used to say that I’d step over an injured person to tend an injured animal. It always confused me that more people wouldn’t and don’t. Maybe it's just easier to fill up on bologna.