Stray Animals in Texas and Mrs. Bates

My mother says I wouldn't like Texas -- or at least not the parts they went to (including Houston). But the area they were at had been hit by a hurricane a couple years ago, so that could be part of why there were so many stray, wild animals everywhere. There was a black labrador with two puppies that were going into the remains of a house and the full-grown dog/mother was snarling and barking at my mother and her boyfriend even when they weren't at all close and were walking away. My mother said if she could have she would have taken in the puppies, even if the mother, if the mother wasn't acting so "nutty."

Seeing all the street dogs and cats reminded her of Mrs. Bates, who was also a stray we rescued while traveling. Mrs. Bates was very good with humans, though. She had obviously been a cat with a home as she was spayed and declawed when we found her. She would meow a lot and we first found her begging two men for ice cream at Dairy Queen. She was very friendly and just wanted food. We thought she was a kitten because she had a very short, small build and was severely underweight (she weighed about 4lbs at the time). I convinced my mother to let me take her and she went crazy for my ice cream. She dove for it. She had PTSD, though, and was severely afraid of feet (she would attack them) and would hide from men for years. It seems likely that a man used to kick her. She's over all that now, though.

Defending Against the Superego

"One of the first orders of business on our inner journey, then, is learning to defend against the superego. This is essentially a matter of feeling the suffering inflicted upon ourselves through judgment and criticism, as well as recognizing that this approach to ourselves is completely counter-productive. We need to see that the means here -- criticizing and judging ourselves -- determine the end: a perpetuation of the inner sense of deficiency."
-pg. 38, The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram, by Sandra Maitri

5 Gratitudes

1. Not being depressed today
2. Reading the beginning of The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram and The Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Relationship
3. Michael buying my microplush (ivory) blanket from Target for me (it is very soft!)
4. Talking to Maria while playing Dragon Quest IV and Solitaire
5. Watching Care Bears