Distant Memories

I am in love with Charlie.

Charlie is a coyote and you can meet him at www.dailycoyote.blogspot.com. If you read Dooce, you probably have already met Charlie because that's where I discovered him, too.

There is something so sweet and simple about imagining what life for Charlie and his human friend must be like living in that log cabin in Wyoming. I could look at those pictures for hours.

One of my longest held fantasies has been a desire to live in the mountainous wild, somewhere, in the middle of nowhere. Since I've been super young I've pictured myself in that scene. And that's the beauty of a fantasy - because in reality? There's nooooooo way - I'd be dead in a week. (Or...would I rise to the challenge, find inspiration in the sunrise, chop wood, haul water and learn to hunt like Aila?)

When I was very, very little - so young that I don't actually remember this clearly - my dad brought home some coyote pups. We have pictures of them, so I sometimes don't know if I'm remembering the real coyotes or if I'm remembering seeing them in the pictures. Dad worked for Montana State Parks and Wildlife and he brought other things home, too. Animals that needed some care or attention of some sort. The twin bear cubs were my favorite.

I remember Susie the rabbit. I remember her clearly because she would let us hold and pet her. We had a rabbit cage out in the backyard and I could give her lettuce and carrots and little pellets of food. One day Susie wasn't there and I was told she had hopped away during the night. I was sad. Believed for years that I might have been the one who left the hatch open - even though mom and dad assured me that wasn't that case at all. When I was an adult they told me that Susie had actually died one night in her pen.

Nothing very funny or poignant about these rambling thoughts. They're just the kind of memories that waft over and around you like a haze, brought vaguely back to life by looking at sweet pictures of little Charlie the Coyote.

P.S. I'm just kidding about the bear cubs. But DANG wouldn't that have been awesome? Oh, and when you come to visit me in my log cabin in the Bitterroots, please bring some coffee beans, sugar and the latest issue of Vanity Fair. Thank you kindly.