A Day with Uncle Walt

“I think I could turn and live with animals” -a line I often borrow from Walt Whitman. Yesterday was one of those times I felt a connection. I spent my day tending to and caring for at least 2 dozen cats and dogs as the Purdue mobile surgical unit performed their magic on each homeless beauty.

Here is a link with details about the unit which goes around to different shelters to spay and neuter which in turn creates a greater rate of adoptive success. Purdue Vet Students Are On the Move with Mobile Spay/neuter Unit You can read it now or save it for one of those moments you need a heart lifting read.

Myself, my daughter, and one of the shelter's regular volunteers cleaning
and sanitizing the cages for post-op recovery as the cats were in surgery.

I not only gave my own time and energies yesterday but I called my sixteen year old daughter’s school to inform them that she would not be available for class Friday. I kid you not when I say it was an eleven hour day. We arrived at the shelter around 8:30 am and did not leave until the instructing vet looked over every animal’s condition. Once she was able to confirm the pinkness of gums and that all had fully awoken then Dr. Freeman smiled and said goodbye around 7:30 pm.  

Two volunteers and myself carrying
85 pounds of  back to recovery.

Dutchess being given extra attention &
love in order to provide her with trust.

I don't want to take all the credit, that would be stealing. The shelter had several volunteers spending time with every animal for whatever need they had. I met a beautiful dog with a story only her eyes could tell. She was terrified but we all took a moment out of our hectic day to prove the gentility of our species. Not an easy task as you run from one area to the next telling one dog to hush and opening a kennel to take another outside on a leash. Before I left I made sure to walk past the girl we'd all spent precious moments with. She raised her head and wagged her tail. She had hope for a home with a loving family in her future.

We had a day that was long enough to wear anyone out, including a teenager. We drove home in silence with a contented smile on our faces. "So, what did you think?" I broke the silence and asked. The reflective hesitation coming from my daughter is a moment I'll forever cherish before she replied, "You know, I think I learned and accomplished more today than I could have ever experienced during a day at school."

It had been a well spent day as we moved through with Uncle Walt on my mind. I honestly could turn and live with animals and their simple devotion. Little did my fellow volunteers know but they too walked through their day with Walt Whitman as the lines below rolled though my thoughts.



From: Songs of Myself 32 by: Walt Whitman




I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-contain’d,

I stand and look at them long and long.



They do not sweat and whine about their condition,

They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,

They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,

Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things,

Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,

Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.



So they show their relations to me and I accept them,

They bring me tokens of myself, they evince them plainly in their possession.



I wonder where they get those tokens,

Did I pass that way huge times ago and negligently drop them?



Myself moving forward then and now and forever,

Gathering and showing more always and with velocity,

Infinite and omnigenous, and the like of these among them,

Not too exclusive toward the reachers of my remembrancers,

Picking out here one that I love, and now go with him on brotherly terms.



A gigantic beauty of a stallion, fresh and responsive to my caresses,

Head high in the forehead, wide between the ears,

Limbs glossy and supple, tail dusting the ground,

Eyes full of sparkling wickedness, ears finely cut, flexibly moving.



His nostrils dilate as my heels embrace him,

His well-built limbs tremble with pleasure as we race around and return.



I but use you a minute, then I resign you, stallion,

Why do I need your paces when I myself out-gallop them?

Even as I stand or sit passing faster than you.