Kermit the frog was my favorite muppet when I was growing up. I even had a Kermit puppet. I loved the song "It ain't easy being green". Hmmmmmm... I wonder if Kermy was my favorite because I liked green, or if I like green because I liked the frog. If I level with myself, I probably really liked Kermit because of his personality. (Or should I say "frogonality"?)
While that olive green frog will always have a special place in my heart, I'm really digging Animal these days. I love the way he attacks tasks with wild abandon and the fact that he really and truly does not care what others think. There's something very wonderful about the way he gets it out of his system. There's also something very dark about it; he's very "Iron John". I may have to explore the connections between Animal and Robert Blythe's book another time, but I digress.
My husband and I returned home from shopping at the Expo Design Center clearance this evening elated with our purchase of several hundred dollars worth of natural stone tiles for less than 50 bucks to find that Keva had "gone Animal" on something. She had shredded a half pound of merino wool roving used for spinning yarn that I had just bought yesterday. I'm certain that to the dog it smelled like a sheep, so in her walnut sized brain there must be a sheep in there somewhere, right?
Now that I've gotten over the anger and Keva has spent several hours in her kennel, I realize how funny it must have looked for an 85 pound yellow lab to attack an innocent ball of wool. I wonder if she stalked it the way she does rabbits in the backyard. Did she hold it in her mouth and shake her head back and forth or dig at it with her paws? Was there growling involved? Did she get angry when she discovered there wasn't a sheep hiding in it? She must have attacked it with wild abandon, just like Animal plays his drums.
I think we can all learn something from the "animals" in our lives, whether they are muppets, people, sheep, or dogs; sometimes you just need to go crazy. The primal yawp from "The Dead Poets' Society" really is important. I don't intend that we should throw tantrums, but wouldn't it be nice to get so into a project that you attacked it Animal style? Wouldn't it feel good to let it all out? Maybe that means jumping for joy, yelling at the top of your lungs, or rolling down a hillside like you did when you were a kid. Or, maybe it's just having a pillow fight with someone you love.
I think it's really important to act like an animal sometimes. Do something crazy!
Man....you really do go shopping a lot! We have two shetland sheep dogs and two cats. I always think that I'm teaching them...but really, I'm the one being trained.
Posted by: Suzy at July 23, 2005 12:16 AM