Thursday, April 18, 2013

Animal Family

I took a psychology class half of one year in high school. I didn't learn much in that class, but I do remember a couple of very useful things. For example, the first day of class the teacher wrote a number on the board, told us all not to remember it, and then erased it. That number was
34 
I wish I was kidding.
I also learned that in any crowd of people there is always one person thinking about Abraham Lincoln.

Now, that person will be you. That is unless I am there because this little nugget worms it's way to the surface much more often than it should.So really I learned more about needing a psychologist than I did any real psychology.
One fun assignment we had was to draw our family as animals. My family looked something like this:

My dad is tough, but kind so he got the smiling rhino. To me, kangaroos are the picture of motherhood. My brother was actually in college at the time and taking a repelling class and cave exploring and it all just seem kind of monkey like to me. I actually meant it in a  nice way... I think. The tiny bird for me is pretty clear even if you haven't had my level of training in psychology.
I was talking about this with Rocky and the kids. We all took turns talking about what animal each of us should be. What you pick for yourself is always so telling. I think the animals we picked for each other are much more flattering, and probably truer. Here is how we ended up

Rocky was probably the hardest and we are still on the fence between bear and wolf. Either way I think it lands on cuddly and yet fierce. Rocky picked fox for me, and the kids chimed in saying that was perfect. We all quickly agreed that JD is our little capuchin monkey, and Nix is sweet and cute and caring like the river otter.
I'm working to embrace the idea of being more of a fox, but often inside I still feel like a little bird.

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