Small Animals Love Me

This is true. You can ask anybody who knows me.

If I'm going for a walk in any residential neighborhood, cats just walk up to me with their tails held high. Most of the time they offer up their heads for scratching and start purring. Cats that are hidden behind bushes or kitties that aren't even in my field of vision just run up and plop down in front of me and demand attention.

Since I've lived with dogs this past year and have become attuned to them, all kinds of pooches now demand my attention. I seem to have a natural attraction with animals. I remember one time, several years ago, I was at a petting-zoo and walked up to the pen of a giant pig. She was lounging sideways. Her ear caught my eye because it looked so soft. For some reason, I said to the pig "I'd really like to touch your ear". No sooner were the words out of my mouth when the sow rolled her head in my direction and stuck her ear out between the metal bars of her pen! I stroked it and thanked her. It was an unforgettable moment.

Another time, while at the Cleveland Zoo with my sister, I was attracted to a family of orangutans (am I spelling that right?). I sat down quietly next to the glass enclosure and pretty soon a young mother ape sauntered up and started looking at me. She called her baby over and I felt certain she was proud of him and showing him off. In turn, I took off the hat I was wearing and held it up to the glass. She was not impressed. Then I called my sister over to the glass and sort of 'introduced' them. It was as if we had an understanding and were getting to know each other. The encounter stays with me to this day.

While I seem to instinctively know what animals want, I keep misinterpreting signals from human males. Recently, I bravely decided to tell a good friend that I found him attractive and asked him if he'd like to become more than friends. He was stunned and flummoxed by my question. I had misread all of his signals. His gentle reply was like so many others I have received in my lonely 46 years on this earth. They tell me I am a" kind-hearted person and will make some man very happy some day". I've heard it all before. In time, this minor hurt will fade and I'll eventually become attracted to another man. The cycle of happiness, laughter, hope, attraction and rejection will begin again. I'm supposed to learn from these mistakes but I don't think I ever will.

Here, kitty kitty kitty.