soulgifts – Telling Tales

I am indulging in some reminisicing.

She wrote this candid camera peek into her life

a few years ago.

Hello, my name is Tess.  I thought I’d give you a peek into my life. I live in Adelaide, South Australia. There’s just the three of us in the house now since the kids moved out – me, Mum and Dad.

Beds are important to me. I have a bed for every purpose. My day bed is strategically placed so I can hear what’s going on. I can be at the door in a flash, on full alert in half a second. My night bed is in a nook in the laundry where it is cosy, dark and warm. It’s soft and sheepskin lined for my comfort. I never have to rearrange the bedding in that one.

But I always have to rearrange the day bed because for some weird reason Mum insists on making it. She doesn’t seem to realise a bed is not a comfortable bed until I have turned around in it at least three times, and piled all the bedding into a jumble in the middle.

And as for the meditation bed under Mum’s desk! Why or why does she insist on putting that pillow into it? The first thing I do is toss it out so it rests on the edge. That way if I am not *in the zone* I can gaze out the window into the garden.

I have quite a few toys as you can see. My very first one ever was the green frog. It only has one  leg now so I keep it just for special play times.  Peppa pig is one of my favourites. She’s a bit shy so she’s hiding at the back. I carry her around by her snout. For Christmas last year I got the elephant.  My favourite ever game is when one of my human family plays fetch with me. Sometimes I shake the toys so hard they fly off all on their own. That always surprises me.

Normally I’m not supposed to sleep on the sofa. But one of the human kids put me up there when they were home at Easter. That’s a photo of them with me.  The sofa was such a nice spot, I just had to rearrange it as a bed. It took a long time to get it just right so I had to have a nap  after.

Christmas is a time when I get to wear my party dress. I get a new one every year.  Sometimes I get to ride in the car. I love that. Once when the boat Dad made was being painted I got to go and watch them take it out of the water. That’s a picture of me watching.

I like visiting the neighbours. My friends live there. It’s always fun trying to find my BFF. I run around until I find him. Sometimes he’s having a nap in his bed. (I totally understand that!) Sometimes he’s reading. He feeds me cheese. Yum! And I always leave him a special *treat* on the lawn before we leave.  He likes to garden.

You can see here that I have a TV chair too. It’s next to Mum. She sits and crochets.  Mostly by then I am so tired from a busy day following her around that I just sleep. But sometimes they watch one of those nature documentaries. I just have to get up and talk to the other animals. I don’t really understand why they never answer me back.

Mum and Dad always have a Happy Hour on Saturdays with the neighbours. They have nibbles and drink alcohol. (*Shhhh* this is a secret.)  Every now and then Mum gives me five fingers – that’s one drop on each finger. She tells me that’s enough because I’m not supposed to have any at all. It makes me feel a little drowsy so I have to have a nap.

Then there’s my naughty corner. *Sigh.*  Mum sometimes puts me there if she thinks I’m being annoying which is usually when there’s food on the table. Hey! I want some too but apparently I get carried away a bit. So she sits me on this really high chair. I can still see but it stops me from jumping down.

My days are very busy and I have to have lots of naps so I can keep up with everything that is happening.

Raili Tanska

Rejoice in the  11 years 8 months of precious memories