I have had a turtle as part of my family ever since I can remember.  They were always red eared sliders who were rescued.  We had a pond built for our last red eared slider and then she passed away.  She got to be the size of a large dinner plate and we could not buy a tank big enough to hold her.  I do not recommend them as pets for that very reason; they just keep growing and growing.  So when Sipokni died we decided to get two little Texas map turtles as part of our menagerie.  They are the smallest breed of aquatic turtle and males do not get any bigger than the palm of your hand.  I named them Pecos and Brazos.  They were rescues as well, as they were slated to be on the menu as turtle soup in Asia.  *shudder*  Their 55 gallon tank is roomy and they love to come out and bask like you see in the picture I took here.  I think this is Brazos; he’s slightly bigger than Pecos, just like the rivers.  I like to hear the filter running because it has the tranquility of an indoor waterfall.  One of our cats is always on top of the tank I suspect because she likes the heat lamp.  In Native culture, turtles are the symbol for long life and we all like having them.  They do not bite and are low maintenance.  When I look at them I am reminded of the American writer Bill Copeland’s words:  “Try to be like the turtle — at ease in your own shell.”  I think that is the very best place to be.

When I was in the fourth grade I made the Dallas Girls’ Chorus and our spring concert was in Caruth Auditorium at SMU.  Walking around the big center fountain that night I knew it was where I wanted to attend college someday.  And I did; SMU is my Alma mater.  I thought about majoring in music but my degree is in journalism with a minor in Native American Indian history and I was one class shy of a double minor in French.  It would be over two decades later after circling that fountain in front of Dallas Hall until I would meet the man I would marry.  Despite having known him almost ten years now we had never attended a concert together.  We’d been to operas (which he mostly struggled to stay awake through) and musicals (which I think he liked better) and, while this was not a concert in the rock band sense, I still hoped he might enjoy it.  Tonight the one and only Tony Bennett performed in the same auditorium I fell in love with as a little girl.  Walking hand in hand under trees grown more beautiful with the passing of time I thought about how fitting it was that we should be there.  I felt the same love for the architecture of the campus and spring hung heavy in the night air just as it did so long ago.  At almost 90 Tony Bennett has a powerhouse voice which has only strengthened with age and has been honed like a smooth whiskey that slides down your body, giving warmth and goosebumps all at once.  He was accompanied by a four piece band:  a grand piano, guitar, double bass and drums.  At one point he sang a cappella and with no mic.  That is when his perfect pitch, commanding projection, and raw talent really shined.  He has been quoted as saying, “I’ve been so fortunate because I never really had ups and downs as far as my career.  Ninety-nine percent of the time, I’ve been sold out all over the world.”  I am so thrilled he came to Dallas.  He looked more dapper than ever with his hand casually in his pocket while he held his mic next to his crisp handkerchief and crooned “Smile”, which I did not know was a Charlie Chaplin song.  My favorites were still “Fly Me to the Moon” and his iconic “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”.  He performed one hit after another effortlessly and without pause, not sitting or even sipping water for over an hour.  The stage was bathed in my favorite color dark blue and I took this picture from my seat after it was over.  Tony Bennett left it all, as he blew a kiss to the audience and then turned and simply walked away.  I went from “Rags to Riches” and once again I left my heart where I had done so all those years ago.  Only this time I was no longer a little girl, but a grown woman who got to experience the joy of introducing one love of my life to another.

When my mother first found out we were having a little girl she admonished me not “to dress that baby all in blue!” and she knew it would be a battle for me not to do so.  I adore dark blue.  It’s on everything from our duvet to our formal china.  My Christmas colors are dark blue and silver.  My entire closet is pretty much only dark blue.  I always wear the little dark blue sapphire cross I got when I worked at Lord & Taylor back in college.  For my little one though, it’s all about pink.  And I do not believe it is a passing fancy simply because she is a girl and she’s little.  She loves it in the same way I cannot get enough of blue.  I will never forget when she first started taking karate at three and, after earning her first two belts, she worked up all her courage to approach her master instructor.  She shyly peeped up at this big, intimidating man dressed all in black to ask if they had a pink belt in karate.  You could see him struggle not to smile as he gently told her there was not.  Recently I told her about local business great Mary Kay and how she would give away pink cars to her top salespeople.  It was in answer to her query about why there were no pink cars on the road.  She gravitates to pink like I do to blue.  I also notice we both favor the darker color as opposed to a pastel.  So when I bought her paints the other day of COURSE I bought an extra bottle of (washable — thank goodness) pink.  She was so thrilled!  “IT’S PINK!  IT’S PINK MAMA!” she kept saying as she was jumping up and down and sweetly saying thank you.  She has begun pointing out blue things for me just as I am always on the lookout for pink for her.  I grinned when I snapped this pic after I told her to please go wash her hands before supper.  Note the pink shirt (the pink hands I should think are obvious) with my blue shower curtain behind her.  The famous actress and humanitarian Audrey Hepburn said:

“I believe in pink.  I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner.  I believe in kissing, kissing a lot.  I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong.  I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls.  I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.”

I have always loved “La Vie En Rose”.  I believe my little one has, even at her tender years, already learned to embrace this.  So maybe a little pink rubbing off on me would not be a bad thing.  I think I shall add more into my own wardrobe.  Maris has already brought my whole life into pink.

Every time I see a lost animal I am reminded of the Parable of the Good Samaritan.  I think of the first two who are too busy to stop and help.  I do not want to be that person.  Animals are family and I always try to catch runaways when I am able so they do not get hit by a car, wind up in the pound, or suffer some other tragic fate.  On this day I was driving home when this adorable little dog caught my eye.  I immediately stopped the car and she stopped running.  She had that wild look in her eyes that dogs get when they’re scared and lost.  I realize animal lovers tend to anthropomorphize pets especially but I believe she knew she could trust me.  She let me slowly approach her and gently pick her up.  By the time I’d put her in the back seat of my car next to my sleeping four year old she sort of passed out herself.  I brought her in the house (lifting her up from the sniffing wolfies so she wouldn’t freak out) and put her in our downstairs bathroom with a bowl of water which she proceeded to quaff.  Upon further inspection I noticed she had no collar and some hot spots which was disheartening.  I posted her pic on Facebook and other lost dog sites praying someone would message me.  I don’t know why I didn’t think to see if she was chipped.  A friend inquired if I’d checked and with a small ray of hope I asked my husband if he would take her to our vet to get scanned.  It turns out she had been missing for a month and had gone almost five miles.  I requested that her owner please contact me so I could try to help fill in some blanks.  She got to stay at our vet’s until her dad got off work.  Ironically, he had a job right across the street from their office!  Later that evening I got a call and, upon saying hello, this older gentlemen introduced himself as my “new best friend” — and then proceeded to cry.  He said her name is Puppy and kept thanking me profusely.  It was humbling.  The two of them are inseparable and she goes to work with him every day.  Each of them only has the other.  He thought I wanted him to call because he was offering a reward.  I told him I just got the greatest reward I could ever receive; they were reunited.  American actor Robert Wagner once said, “A dog will teach you unconditional love.  If you can have that in your life, things won’t be too bad.”  Some days are great ones; this was one of them:  Puppy lost and found.