Thursday, December 21, 2006

It's Luky's Birthday - And He Wants To Hang A Pawing

Today is Luky's birthday. He is 9. He was pretending to have some aches and pains earlier in the week, attempting - I believe - to play the ol' 7X human years card!

Anyway, we've been talking about holidays and family. It's a common topic these days - even our human friends are all over it. Luky says that humans have such a need to connect that our eventual connection gives us reason to feel lonely and forsaken when we inevitably go back to being alone. I think I understand his point.

The problem, according to him, is that humans have evolved toward the use of a societal gene. In other words, the DNA that promoted family and community won out somewhere back when developing genetic predispositions was important - it won out over our ability to be alone. It's not, he insists, that we can't be alone, survive alone, even thrive alone . . . it's just that our predilection for joining the group became the stronger influence.

Luky says we're lucky. He doesn't think we would have survived individually the way a lone Wolf can. I agree with him. It seems weird to me that just standing in my kitchen can feel meaningful when there's someone else there with me - and feel so meaningless when I'm by myself. And I agreed with Luky that there was absolutely no reason for that - because I've tested the experience with people who have nothing whatsoever to do with my personal Meaning.

It's too bad for Luky that his birthday falls close to the holidays. He doesn't care if we put up a Christmas Tree or not, but regardless, I get into thinking about the holidays and it naturally affects my communication with him.

I guess that's why he's so excited about spending Christmas Day at the Lake House - Avondale Estates - where his mom, Kiki, and Pack-mate, Prince GWeb, live. He sort of gave himself away, though, when I was admiring his stoic Lupine approach to these frenetic days of gift giving and faux joy . . . I was asking him when he wanted to go over to Kiki's on Christmas Morning and he immediately said he would be waking up there. He knew I was going to be driving over that morning so it struck me that he had already decided to spend Christmas Eve night with the rest of the Pack.

"Why do you think you should spend the night out there instead of here with me?" I asked with no special inflection. I was just interested to know.

"Well," he started, sounding uncharacteristically evasive, "if I don't stay out there I might not be able to have . . . you know, my pawing."

"Your 'pawing'?" I asked - now in my most demanding and inquisitive tone. I had no idea what a "Pawing" was and had never even heard him use that term before. Plus, he was acting very strange for a Wolf descendant!

"Prince G said he was going to hang a stocking over the fireplace," Luky started explaining somewhat apologetically. "He told me all about stockings, and that Santa came down the chimney and filled it with bones and chews and stuff."

I could scarcely believe my ears - Luky was buying into the whole Western human tradition!
"Uh," there was just no way of asking my next question in an intelligent-sounding way, "I just have to ask - what does Santa and chimney stockings have to do with 'Pawing'?"

"You don't think a Wolf is going to hang a 'stocking' on the chimney, do you? I have paws, you know!"

"Yeah, that's what I was afraid of."

Hey, it's his birthday. And who am I to say that Santa doesn't fill pawings the same way he does stockings?

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow - you really feel strongly about this subject don't you? Take it easy - no need to get all wound up...

7:47 PM  

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