Guest Blogger: Morgan

Hi, bloggy buds. I asked Morgan of LaVogue and morgansilk on Etsy to write a guest post about how her cute little buddy named Chippie entered her life. He's such a doll! I hope you enjoy reading about him as much as I did. *grin*

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I couldn't do anything, hadn't been able to walk, or paint, or do anything since November, and now it was February. It was even getting hard to push the buttons on the remote. I had had two surgeries on my knee, one aborted, and all kinds of misery that I didn't understand. Finally, the orthopedic surgeon took the dang thing out and put in an oversize titanium one, but by that time the real problem was my hands. They hurt. The hair follicles hurt. My orthopedic surgeon thought I was an hysteric and my friends couldn't stand to be around me. My husband had to put food out for me when he left for work in the mornings because I couldn't pick up a pitcher or open a jar. I lost 25 pounds because I couldn't feed myself and didn't want to admit it.

I woke up in the hospital after the knee replacement and a new doctor was in my room. He took my hand, felt it gently, and asked me a few questions, then turned to the surgeon I deeply hated, and said, "She has rheumatoid arthritis". I was too messed up to pay any attention, but I did promise to make an appointment with that new doctor, and by February the medications were finally kicking in and I was beginning to feel more human. That month, my husband came in from working in the yard with a tiny little pink wormy thing the size of my (enlarged) thumb and told me he had found it under a leaf. What was it? We were familiar with baby squirrels, and this little thing was too small, so we decided that it was either a mouse or a chipmunk. He put it in a cardboard box lined with an old towel, filled an empty mayonnaise jar with hot water and wrapped that in a towel, and I emailed my veterinarian niece for advice. This little chipmunk was my constant companion until September when I was finally able to go back to work teaching high school. We bonded, and he has never tolerated anyone or anything else but me.

Laura told us to get some puppy formula at the local vet, and he grew and grew until he was a sweet little striped chippie. I would sit in the living room, doing my range-of-motion pedaling, and hold him in my lap. His tiny little eyes were closed and his ears were flat against his head, until one Friday night when one eye opened with a pop, then the other eye, then both ears perked up and he was off and running like a shot! Sometimes he's friendly, sometimes he's combative, and sometimes he couldn't care less. He wants to be left alone most of the winter, and has been known to attack people he does not like and remember them the next time. He would rather have chocolate than nuts or seeds, but it is dangerous food for little guys like him. He took off with a piece of oreo cookie one day and it took the two of us the better part of an hour to get it back. He chewed holes in my clothes, my purse, and hid seeds and nuts in our shoes. He even escaped the house for a whole day; just as I was trying to convince myself he would be okay he appeared in the driveway, looking around cluelessly. He would NOT be alright! I ran out there and he practically jumped into my arms. Squirrels will devour little chipmunks, hawks swoop on the them, cats will torment them; I have no idea how long they can live without predators, but he is more than six years old now.

What will I do when he is gone? I can never have a little friend like this again; you cannot capture a chipmunk and if you did it would never love you. It has to smell you and hear you and feel you long before it can see you or know that you are not of the same species. I have read that wild animals can make attachments with only one person, and although I do not know if this is true in general, it has been so in our case.

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Awww, animals sure have a way of warming our hearts. We all hope Chippie gives you many more good times, Morgan! Be sure to stop by and visit Morgan at LaVogue and Morgan's Silk Scarves where you will find a wide variety of fabulous items from vintage housewares to hand-died silk scarves. You can also visit her on We Love Etsy.

Thanks for being a part of my little space in the world wide web, Morgan! *grin*

**Do you have something interesting or informative to share and would like to be a guest blogger here at The Song of My Soul? Shoot me an email and we'll chat!**