Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Thanksgiving Messages from the Animals

As has been the Spring Farm tradition now for many years, we take a moment from our daily work each Thanksgiving morning and make a list of all we have to be grateful for in our lives. Each year, we also give the animals a chance to voice their special thanks as well. Back by popular demand, here are the offerings for this year. All of us at the farm wish you and your families a happy holiday.

Bo: Thoroughbred mare – I am so grateful for all of my friends. Not just the other horses and donkeys but also the ducks, chickens, cats and of course our beloved humans. It gives me great pleasure to be a part of such a loving home where we know respect and camaraderie with each other and with the humans who are in our hearts everyday. Naturally, I am also thankful for having known and to miss those who are no longer with us.

Amber Donkey: I am incredibly grateful to see the sun rise each morning. Every day that I see that, I know that there is a chance for a new beginning. That this day won’t be like any other day. Even if my routine stays the same, my thoughts change every day. Each day I am grateful to have new thoughts. In this way, no two days are ever the same.

Nutmeg: Pygmy goat – I am grateful to have a home that I love. Its not the barn that makes my home but the friends I share it with. Each morning when we hear the first footsteps of the first human to arrive in the barn, I am filled with eagerness for food, but happiness that someone who cares is here to bring it to me. I love to see their faces when they walk in the door.

Bella – female barn cat – I am eternally grateful for warmth, food, and most of all, everyone who loves me. I have such an important job in the barn. The horses depend on me to tell them what is going on outside when they are inside. The people depend on me to be here when I’m supposed to be or when I need to give a tour to visitors. And the greatest thing to be thankful for of all is my sister Izzy. We came together to be together and it has stayed that way by choice.

Bobby – male beagle mix – I only have 3 legs and sometimes people feel sorry for me. I don’t feel sorry for me. I am extremely grateful for the 3 legs that I do have. Someone shot me and left me in the woods. I was very scared, in a lot of pain, and very angry at humans. I questioned why I didn’t just die there. But then I ended up here. And even though I’ve bitten a few times, they seem to still like me. So I’ve had to try to learn another way of being. I don’t always understand these humans, but I have a job to do while I’m here. People say I’m cute. I think that is really cool. I shouldn’t be known as a dog with a missing leg but should always be remembered for a dog who found his heart again.

George – black and white Main coon mix cat – (from spirit - George just passed away the eve before our asking for these messages.) Even though I’m no longer with you in body, I am always there in heart and spirit. I have so much to be thankful for that I wanted to be included. I was thankful for a life filled with living. I lived every second of that life. I was thankful for all my friends, the cats, the dogs, Phoebe duck, Merlin the African Grey Parrot, and all my human friends. I had so many of them. I was able to live my life right up until the second I began living in spirit again. For all of the love I received and brought with me to where I am now – I will forever be eternally grateful.

Choco- male rabbit – If ever there was a lucky rabbit in this world, I am it. I hear people say that a rabbit foot is lucky. Well….I am 4 times lucky! I am grateful for extra veggies, for people to feel how soft my fur is, and most of all, I am grateful to have a safe place to stay. People may not know this about me, but I am most grateful to look into people’s eyes and see who they are. It makes me very hoppy to be alive! That is rabbit humor.

Isabelle – female all around gorgeous long-hair grey and white cat – It took people a long time here to figure out that the farm is my whole reason for being. They kept adopting me out and I kept finding ways to come back until FINALLY they got the message. THIS is my home. I am grateful for everything I have every single day. Before I came here, I ended up at a shelter where I was scheduled to die the next day because I peed on someone’s sofa. I peed on the sofa because I thought they didn’t understand me…. And you see, I was right. One pee on the sofa, my first indiscretion, and off I went to die. I don’t understand humans when they get so drastic. But each time they adopted me out from here because they weren’t listening to me either, I just got better at perfecting the pee thing. Luckily, after that first time, it got easy. I’d just pee on something meaningful and then I’d get returned here. Finally, they got it. They thought they were trying to give me something better than what they were giving me when all I ever wanted was to be here, where I was heard and understood and could just work with people on that. I am thankful every day to be able to be HERE.

Hannah – female Pit bull/beagle mix – I am thankful for being given a second chance at my life. I made some big mistakes because I was very confused. But people here taught me what it felt like to be loved and when that happened, my confusion slowed down and I was able to think and learn again. I wanted to live but thought it was useless. But I learned that they would give me a chance. I never want them to not trust me again. I am very thankful to have had an opportunity to be worthy of being trusted. I have learned so much this lifetime.

Felix – donkey – I am always grateful to be alive. I was with my friend Leo at a place where we saw a lot of our friends starve to death and we almost did too. But our friends took us in here and fed us and loved us. We were just little babies at the time and were so close to dying. Now we have our whole lives ahead of us. That horrible experience will be a small part of who we are because we have known such love and comfort in our home now. But while we are grateful to be here and be together, we know that there are many many more animals that are currently living like we were. We hope that they one day soon have something to be thankful for too.