HAPPINESS, DAY 6

15 August 2022

Back to things that make me happy in a day.

Actually, this happiness is from Saturday, which is World Elephant Day.

I have loved elephants ever since I was a little kid and remember feeding a circus elephant a peanut bag...peanuts were gone and I  gave her the bag.  Bad me.

I remember when the kids were little -- Ned was the baby -- and my friend Char and I took our kids to the train to watch the elephants (and other animals) unloaded and paraded to the place where the circus was going to be performing.  TV cameramen were there too and Ned was videotaped in his backpack and shown on the nightly news.

We happened to find ourselves in the path of the elephants as they were coming to the tent and we backed up against the tent behind us ... and later found out that tent had the lions and tigers in it.  As the elephants passed, the guy with them warned us, "watch out for that one -- she kicks."

Whenever we went to the zoo, I always wanted to find the elephants and loved watching them.

That all changed when I learned about elephant sanctuaries and how terrible it is for elephants to be stolen and taken away from their families.  I began reading about elephant lives and what happens when one is removed from the family she grew up in and moved to a zoo where she has no dirt to stand on, no trees to wander through, and worst of all, no other members of her family with her.

I've read many books about elephants and watched a lot of documentaries and so it makes me happy that there is a World Elephant Day to remind people about elephants and how they need to be together in families.

I don't go to the zoo much any more, but whenever I do, I always feel the need to apologize to the elelphant(s) for being there.