One of my most distinct early memories is of being perhaps four years old and feeling heartbroken.
Perhaps I was upset at one of my siblings, or my mother had answered “no” to something I wanted; I don’t remember the cause of my pain. What I do remember clearly is the strong emotion of childhood: feeling as though no one cared about me, that I was utterly alone, and that no one in my family understood how I felt.
My instinctive response to this overwhelming mood was to go outside, sit on the edge of our backdoor cement porch, and tell my problems to Stripe, my young gray tabby cat with white paws and chest.
I held her on my lap, stroked her sleek fur as she purred, and I wept.
She seemed to listen, looking into my face and occasionally blinking her green eyes.
I believe we are designed to interact with and be calmed by animals, what writer-naturalist Henry Beston called our “fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth.”
Contact comfort is the term for the touch which infants need in order to thrive. It seems to me that in addition to the touch of our family, friends, loved ones, we also continue to need the touch of animals. We have a tactile nature; we were built to use our sense of touch, designed with an enormous network of nerve endings and touch receptors.
Not only am I comforted each time I pet my cat today, she is in turn comforted by me. The photo above shows her pleasure in my touch. If I ignore her when she rolls on her back in the garden for a tummy rub, she’ll tap me on the leg with a soft paw as a reminder she wants her massage.
My nine-year-old friend Lexi both calms and is calmed by her touch on Hollywood’s face:
And our cat thanks my husband for his comfortable lap and gentle touch as she licks his hand:
Our connection with animals eases the travail and increases the wonder of living on this earth. Indeed, as French writer Anatole France said, “Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”
Complete the following: My connection with ________________ eases __________________.
Describe an early childhood memory, perhaps a time when you felt heartbroken or a time when you felt exhilarated.