Do you have pets? Do you talk to them?
Do you say, Bye, baby! I'll be home soon! when you're leaving them.
Do you make a big announcement when you open the front door, I'm home! It's guaranteed they'll be running out to greet you.
I used to load my dog, Chloe, into the car to run errands, because she dearly loved rides in the car. So if weather and outside temps permitted, she'd always come along with me. Before we left I'd take a moment to lay out our itinerary to her: First we'll run by the post office, then the drug store to pick up prescriptions, then the grocery store, and we'll gas up the car on the way back home.
We all do it. When we catch ourselves doing it, or get caught by family or friends, we're a little embarrassed. But we all do it, and we all understand it.
It's like talking to yourself ... sometimes you just need to talk to somebody with some sense, who can understand where you're coming from. And pets are good listeners and captive audiences.
When you compare them to humans, it's easy to see why some people prefer the company of animals over their human counterparts.
Pets don't talk back, or counter every comment with a counter point. They don't interrupt or talk over you.
Unlike people, pets don't hide their emotions. Mostly they adore us (another big plus!), but whether they are happy, mad, sad, bored, frustrated, etc., it is generally very obvious. That's one of the traits that makes us like animals so much. It's easy to enjoy someone when you don't have to guess how they're feeling or what they really meant.
Animals have no hidden agendas. Even wild animals ... if a lion is going to eat you, he'll get right to the point and you won't have any questions about what he's up to. Unlike people who can blindside you and eat you up when you never saw it coming.
It always amazed me that my little dog, who couldn't speak words, always knew how to communicate to me exactly what she wanted to say and 99% of the time I knew exactly what she was trying to tell me. Unlike a human who I can swap 5-6 emails with and we still don't understand each other.
With animals, even amongst each other, they know how to communicate. It's interesting to watch our 2 cats together, and recently with a dog we kept for traveling friends ... they know how to communicate with each other very clearly. And when you watch them interacting with each other, it's not too difficult to figure out the dynamics of the relationship and what they are saying to each other.
So it's not surprising at all that we love animals and that we bring them into our homes to share life with us, and to bond and form relationships with us. Then next thing you know we're making videos of them and sharing on social media all the funny and amazing things they do.
If we happen to be creatives, then we're likely writing stories, or painting pictures, or sculpting, or singing songs about them.
If you're a children's book creator, it's the most natural thing in the world to weave stories all about animals ... to give them human characteristics and human-like lives in human-like environments.
And we get our inspiration from the real life relationships we have everyday with our own pets and the wildlife right outside our doors and windows ...
Thank you, loved it!