no subject

Because I stumbled over it this afternoon and it made me all snuffy:

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but really loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept."

- Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit

leaving things behind

Watching the hurricane on satellite imaging and radar last night was amazing and terrifying - amazing because the force of nature just hits you like that sometimes, and terrifying because I kept hearing weather bloggers speculating that there might not even be a Galveston in the morning.

Luckily, it wasn't too bad - but it could have been. I hear that, had the storm had ten more hours to build, it could have been a Category 5. So now I just get to be pissed off at the people making snide remarks about those who didn't leave.

Ignoring all the usual reasons - poverty, illegal alien status, disability - I got stuck thinking about animal rescue. This is from a press release at the beginning of the month, talking about Hurricane Gustav: The first-ever City Assisted Evacuation Plan (CAEP) pet evacuation, which provided evacuation and sheltering assistance for pet owners who lacked transportation or had other special needs, was a tremendous success. It was the first time in the city’s history that animals were evacuated prior to a natural disaster. Evacuees were very appreciative, telling us they did not evacuate for Hurricane Katrina, and would have stayed for Gustav if they couldn't evacuate with their pets,” said Zorrilla. Studies indicated that 44 percent of Gulf Coast residents who did not evacuate during Hurricane Katrina stayed because they did not want to leave their pets behind.

And I started thinking - could I walk out of my home right now, knowing that if by some miracle my cats survived, I would still never be able to find them again? I don't know that I could. I've only had these kitties for a couple months, and leaving them would end me. If it were a pet you'd had for fifteen years? If you lived alone with your animals? God, I can see why you'd be reluctant to leave.

My best wishes and thoughts go to the Gulf Coast, and to all the animals displaced from their families by the storm.