Benny and Neil

I just want to write about Benny every day. I was about to go walk Pip, but I got to looking at Benny's pictures from yesterday and then 'When God Made Me" came on the radio.

I look at Benny's picture and think about that first time I accidentally saw it. I remember thinking that boy has given up. That seems like an eternity ago and it was only a few weeks. Since then, I've met so many new people and grown closer to ones I already knew.

The whole world has taken on a new sheen for me. These words of Neil's, yeah, I'm an old hippy, really bring it home to me when I think about Benny.

Here is Benny's picture when I saw him that night. I had no idea that Four Strong Winds would blow him all the way from Turlock, California to out here in Apache Shores and to me. Crazy, right...as in Crazy Horse. Nothing is an accident. It was no accident that I saw Benny that night. It was no accident that Patti offered to let Benny move in with her and Raven.

It was no accident that Doug made the mistake of saying, 'shame he ain't here.' Well, he is here now.
................I'll look for you if I'm ever back this way.

If I get there before the snow flies,

And if things are going good,

You could meet me if I send you down the fare.

But if you wait until it's winter,

It will be no good

'Cause that wind sure can blow way out there.

Four strong winds that blow lonely, Seven seas that run high,

All these things that don't change, Come what may.

But our good times are all gone,

And I'm bound for moving on.

I'll look for you if I'm ever back this way.

When I listen to Neil and Pegi Young sing this song I get it. I get for just a little bit of a minute the great lesson Benny has brought me. I feel it when the crowd breathes and lifts to the song. There is hope for all of us, for all God's creatures. Just like Benny told Patti.

And today, everything like I said is full and rich and better. I am so lucky to have the animals here in my life. Today, I'm not stopping and trying to remember in fear that they might be gone suddenly like Paris. The difference, and this is much to do with my lessons from Benny, is today I am rejoicing with the lives of each and every one of them. I know Mr. Francis, the beautiful lutino cockatiel who just moved here is still a bit skittish and very well might always be. However, I can do my job and make sure he has lots of homemade mash and fresh veggies..no more rancid seed from Tomlinson's...his beak stays dirty and crusty with lots of good food and that's a good thing.

My cats, the kittens all from Mr. Doug, are all luxuriating in the sunshine today. I just went out to the porch where they're lolling and lolled with them. Slim Harpo is earning his new nickname, Freddy Krueger, by going after my scalp with his claws. Since they've moved in, everybody seems to have relaxed and settled in. Life is good and that's in no small part to Benny.

I don't know where Benny will end up. I don't know if he will stay at Doug's or come here. I would love to spend my life with Benny.

Benny yesterday

I know I keep writing about this, but I feel as if it's important to note. How can anyone who had someone like Benny in their life not KNOW it, not revere him? Thinking of how those poor rotten souls treated and abused Benny in a way helps me to go on and do the work. Doug said something really profound to me when I started crying that day about Arthur and the beagles who were going to be killed in the medical testing facility. He said it was counter-productive. That woke me up like the shock of cold water. I cannot help anyone if I am morose and sad about the state of things in this world.

I got up, dusted myself off and re-grouped. That was well before Benny came into my life and showed me how to look at these people, with pity. They had a Gandhi in their midst and never even knew it.

I can use the teachings of that great man and the one he has sent to teach me to learn how to become truly enlightened, to restore and to be a part of this great adventure.

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