It’s my birthday. It’s not nearly the big deal it was last year when I had a party at Barrel Oak Winery and 20+ friends showed up from near and far, we drank a case of wine and raised more than $800 for Wildlife Direct. The staff at WLD called my cell phone – from NAIROBI – and sang “Happy Birthday.” That memory still makes me smile as do so many others from that day.
This year I’m returning to BOW, cake in hand, to meet a couple of friends and drink a little wine for a bit. The big, gaping hole in the celebration this year is Mina’s absence.
Mina taking a break on my birthday, January 24, 2009
We’ve spent every birthday together – hers and mine – since 1997. Mina came to live with me on my birthday that year, just a little more than two months old, the most precious being I’ve ever known. She was a little bitty girl, mostly hair and eyes and a short tail that we found fascinating as it grew longer. She didn’t run, she bounced, and she found joy and wonder in every little thing and every canine and human she encountered. You couldn’t be truly miserable around Mina because she exuded love and joy. At some point you just have to give up your self pity and rub her belly and all is right with the world.
Not forgetting my pledge to do good for non-human animals in her honor, I started a fund raising campaign for Wildlife Direct in honor of my birthday. If you’re on Facebook, you can donate on my birthday page. I need only $75 to reach my goal of $250. If you prefer, you can donate directly to Wildlife Direct via the Baraza blog. Any amount will help Wildlife Direct support all the bloggers who are working in the field to protect our wildlife and wild places. Times are critical because of an exploding human population and rising disregard for any form of life that’s not strictly bipedal. Please give what you can.
Mina at BOW, August 2009
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Filed under: endangered species, overpopulation, wildlife conservation Tagged: | birthday fund raiser, wildlife direct
