Thursday, November 13, 2008

Animal Magnetism


From the animated movie “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” comes a host of misplaced animal misfits. All of the loveable characters from the first movie are back – Alex the lion, Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe, Gloria the hippo, King Julien, Maurice and the penguins. They find themselves in the wildest place of all – the vast plains of Africa – where this zoo-raised crew encounters species of their own kind for the very first time.

I could definitely relate to Gloria the hippo. One of her lines is, “Get cher groove on! Get cher groove on!” I certainly do feel like I’ve got my groove back. When I expressed that sentiment to my psychologist earlier this week, she produced a large, stuffed snowman and placed it on the table. When she pressed the button, the disco song, “Shake Your Groove Thing” began to play as the snowman danced. My psychologist explained that “getting my groove back” was worth taking a moment to celebrate. What a hoot!

I had more in common with Gloria the hippo. She was oblivious to the admiration and adoration of her dear friend, Melman the giraffe. In fact, they had been friends so long that she really couldn’t see him as anything other than her dear old friend. We find out during a near-death experience that Melman is in love with Gloria. However, she is snoring and sleeping soundly through his entire confession.

I have a friend like Melman, who I’ve known for seven years. Because we had been friends for such a long time, I couldn’t really see him in a romantic light. He watched me make all my poor choices in husbands and suitors, and he loved me anyway. We have a special connection, about which a whole book could be written, so I won’t go into the detail, except to say that he’s always been there when I needed him. Through our friendship, my Heavenly Father has shown me that He loves me as his eternal daughter and cares about me. Just like Melman, my dear friend has shown me what real friendship and true love really is. And, just like Gloria, I finally opened my eyes. What a gift it is to feel cherished!

Go see the movie, “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa”. It’s really wonderful!

And, speaking of animal magnetism, my 18-year old son, Eric, got a haircut yesterday! Oh, his mama is doin’ the Happy Dance! Now that his handsome face has the right frame around it, instead of all the overgrown vegetation, those college girls are going to be battin’ their long eyelashes at him. Aw heck, it doesn’t matter what his hair looks like, the girls already gravitate towards him. What a handsome hunk of posterity that young man is!

On another, animal-related note, driving to my brother’s house in Austin late Tuesday night, I saw a deer in the road. Now, out in the country on the Double M Ranch, this is a common occurrence, but I was in a heavily-populated urban neighborhood. The small doe was running down the middle of the street toward my car, and then she turned to run up another street, as if trying to find her way out of a confusing maze. She looked so terribly out of place. I half expected to see Santa Claus and his reindeer chasing behind her. It was such an odd sight.

I, too, must have animal magnetism. While in Austin this week, I pulled up at the home of a friend. I walked up onto the porch and knocked at the door. I heard leaves rustling and a noise behind me. I whipped around in alarm and there, standing behind me, was a blonde Labrador retriever, wagging his tail. “You scared me!” I exclaimed to him. Although I’d never seen this dog before, he almost seemed to know me. I reached down to pet him and looked at his collar for a tag to see where he lived, but there was no tag.

As I walked back to my car, which was parallel parked on the street, the lab followed me. As I was looking for traffic, opening the driver’s side door, the dog jumped right in. “Oh no,” I said. “You can’t go with me. I’m sure you have a very nice home somewhere. Now, c’mon and get out.” I kissed the air and clapped my hands, but the lab just sat there in the passenger’s seat, looking quite ready for a road trip. “C’mon boy!” I repeated and whistled. Nothing. I walked around to the passenger side door and tried to pull the dog out. He wouldn’t budge.

I had been listening to the audio book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and was totally enthralled, nearing the end of the story. Rather than try to coax my new passenger out of the car, I decided to wait until my friend returned home and continued listening to the CD. As I turned the car on, the Labrador retriever tried to come sit in my lap. I pushed him off and then he stuck his nose up to the air conditioning vents. I had not fastened my seatbelt, since I wasn’t going anywhere, so in a few minutes, the seat belt alert, which is a series of five ring tones, began to go off. The dog’s ears raised high off his head, and he cocked his head to the side, listening to the warning chimes.

About five minutes later, my friend arrived home, and after another ten minutes or so, was able to persuade the stubborn blonde lab to vacate my car by bribing him with doggie treats, noting that the dog lived a few houses down.

“I got to move it, move it. I got to move it, move it. I got to move it, move it. Ya got to (MOVE IT)!” – “I Like To Move It”, title song from the movie, “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa”. To see the trailer, click here and then click on the Video button at the bottom of the screen. Select Trailer 1 and enjoy!

Move It, Y’all!

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