A comfort beverage today. Those little wax bottles filled with dyed, fruit flavored sugar water (what are they called anyway?). I’ve got plenty a napkins to go around…you have to spit out the wax somewhere. I must say, I prefer to gather up a big wad of wax in my mouth then spit it into my hand – If you hold it tight for a few minutes, you can form neat shapes out of it.
Your latest response got me thinking about my mom. She, in a way, trains people to “cope with difference together” almost every day. She’s a storyteller of sorts…using animals. She takes in abused, neglected and “imperfect” creatures – snakes, turtles, birds, lizards. For 27 years, she’s been known as the “Snake Lady”. Most of her animals are missing legs or feet, or have been scarred in some way. Through her animal stories, she teaches kids and reminds grownups that….well, she teaches them lots of things: diversity, individuality, tolerance – This is not as easy to explain as I thought it would be. I mean, I grew up with it. I should be able to put it to words. There’s an article about what she does on the web. There are tons of snake ladies, so you’d have to look up Bonnie Main Snake Lady. She had no idea that she was on the internet until I told her about two months ago. Don’t worry, she won’t mind that I put her name here… She’s all about access.
Years ago, she did a show at New England Home For Little Wanderers and ended up inviting four kids over for lunch (they thought she was cool and the animals too). She figured they’d like to meet the rest of her animals. When they told her that they were going to be split up into different foster homes (they were brother and sisters), she told them that wasn’t going to happen. They lived with us for five years.
— Lindsey
I did look up your mom (note from Kelley/2008 — the original link I found is broken now, so I’ve substituted a more recent one. You’ll have to get past a little formatting wackiness, but it’s worth it. Bonnie Main rocks.) Pretty amazing. She seems like one of those people who have both focus and an incredible amount of energy to back it up – sort of like a broad-beam flashlight, if that makes any sense. I haven’t known many people like that. I imagine having such a parent makes a big impact on a person.
Your mom is quoted as saying, “Love and work are both four-letter words.” That made me smile. Love and work are where so many of us spend most of our time and energy, which is why they interest me so much to write about. My next book (which I will now get back to working on) has some things to say about this.
Again from 2008: Here’s a video I found of Bonnie. Lindsey, tell your mom we all said hi.
Lindsey, your mom rocks. It’s a great concept, training people to âcope with difference togetherâ through animals. She has a lovely energy.
I like snake ladies. I like snakes, too. The vaseline story reminded me of my own boa, one that was given to me because it had a nasty skin infection and didn’t look fancy wrapped around a stripper’s body anymore. I took it to the friend who worked at our local zoo and he told me about the vaseline trick, plus some antibiotics.