This blog is written by Lee Gale Gruen to help retirees, those soon to retire, baby boomers, and seniors reinvent themselves in this new stage of their lives called retirement. Her blog, public lecture, and new self-help book on senior reinvention are titled: Reinventing Yourself in Your Retirement Years: Find Joy Excitement, and Purpose After You Retire. Her memoir is: Adventures with Dad: A Father and Daughter’s Journey Through a Senior Acting Class. Synopses of her books follow her blog below. Both books are available at Amazon.com by clicking here and here. Her website is: LeeGaleGruen.com
CHITCHAT: Click on this link to view a new video of my author talk discussing my most recent book, “Reinventing Yourself in Your Retirement Years: Find Joy Excitement, and Purpose After You Retire”: https://youtu.be/oWkD6rEUqfY
Now, on to my blog:
I’ve written often in this forum about animals. To read those blog posts, click on the following links, and scroll down if necessary:
8-6-20: “Minis and Me”
10-1-19: “Touching a Giraffe”
5-27-19: “Watson”
1-7-19: “Armful of Dogs”
12-23-18: “Snowball”
10-13-18: “What’s in the Stroller”
11-3-15: “People Whisperer”
5-28-15: “Unstressing at the Airport, One Dog at a Time”
4-29-14: “Learning from Animals”
1-18-14: “The Therapy of Pets”
However, this is a different take.
We all love our pets whether they be dogs, cats, birds, horses, fish, or in my granddaughter’s case, a gecko named “Soy Sauce.” She and her father, my adorable son, make the periodic trek to the pet store to purchase live crickets for her cherished reptile. When I visit, she drags me into her room so I can watch “SS” stalk and capture its insect dinner.
Being subjected to an animal hunting its prey may not be to everyone’s liking. Why do pet owners expect others to be as fascinated with their darling critter as they are? Surely there should be some form of etiquette or sensitivity when sharing Fluffy, Fido, or SS with others. Here are some situations that I’ve encountered ranging from annoying to distressing:
Example 1: I was walking and came upon an acquaintance with her dog. The pooch was off leash and running unobstructed, often 25 to 30 feet from its human. I commented that the situation could pose problems, and that some people were afraid of dogs. What I got in return was a lengthy discourse on the wonderfulness of this particular hound including details of its delightful antics. In fact, the rest of the conversation was only about her treasure. She apparently had nothing else to talk about.
Example 2: I have a friend who has two cats. More than once when I’ve been talking to her on the phone, she has suddenly started screaming at one of the felines: “leave her alone.” In between her scolding, she’ll explain to me, as an aside, that one cat frequently attacks the other. Without taking a breath, she then returns to her verbal discipline of the offender. That leaves me sitting through her diatribe, a place where I definitely don’t want to be.
Example 3: Then there was a time when a woman who was the host of a zoom meeting cut all of the participants off. When everyone was able to re-gather online, she apologized explaining that her cat had walked across her computer keyboard. The host herself purred when other members joked that the cat was in charge in her household. She loved that, thinking it was a compliment. Honey, it was just the opposite. You wasted the time we had all allotted for the meeting simply because you thought giving your pet the run of your office was just so sweet.
Example 4: I can’t fail to add the time I was accosted two weeks in a row by a pair of vicious, unleashed Chihuahuas. They ran full speed toward me, stopping only a few feet before they reached me. Then, they held me at bay, barking and snarling so intensely that their bodies shook from the effort. I was terrified, fearing they would attack and do some significant injury to my lower extremities. Their owner loved to let his pets run free, and I suspect he got off when they frightened their victims. They were his avatars, paying back all the injustices he felt the world had done to him. FYI: I am allergic to all antibiotics but one, and I certainly didn’t want to test the efficacy of my ace-in-the-hole on dog bites.
I’m sure most people have encountered similar situations. I love animals, but my patience is limited to the amount of time I’m willing to devote to the topic of someone’s pet or being subjected to its bad behavior. It’s right up there with my feelings about being regaled by your travel pictures. I might be willing to glance at a shot or three of a monkey or even a flower. Amazing as it may seem, however, I’m not interested in a camera rendering complete with your accompanying comments about that darling couple from Cincinnati you met on your group safari in Africa, and that they have three kids, and he’s a doctor, and she’s a therapist, and…, and…, and…
Have a little common sense, folks, and practice the golden rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Remember, I, too, can bore you with my pet stories or zap you with my travel photos.
Photo credit: Tobyotter on Visualhunt
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SYNOPSES OF BOOKS BY: LEE GALE GRUEN
Reinventing Yourself in Your Retirement Years: Find Joy, Excitement, and Purpose After You Retire (self-help): Not a one-size-fits-all approach, this self-help book for retirees, those soon to retire, baby boomers, and seniors offers an individualized, detailed guide to assist readers in discovering activities and pursuits in this new stage of their lives called retirement, based on their own likes and comfort level. I learned the secret the hard way transitioning from retired probation officer to actress, author, public speaker, and blogger. Audience members at my lectures on senior reinvention requested a book on the subject. This is the result, and it contains the content of those talks and six years of posts from this blog. CLICK here TO PURCHASE FROM AMAZON.COM.
Adventures with Dad: A Father and Daughter’s Journey Through a Senior Acting Class (memoir): After retiring at age 60 from my 37-year career as a probation officer, I mistakenly enrolled in an acting class for seniors. A few weeks later, my mother died, and I invited my grieving, 85-year-old father to come to class with me. This is the true story of our magical journey attending that class together for three years, bonding more than ever. I wrote the comedy scenes we performed onstage twice a year in the acting class showcases, and all six scenes are included in the book. I eventually transitioned into the world of professional acting. As my fledgling, second career started going uphill, my dad’s health started going downhill. I would recount to him each of my new experiences while I sat beside his bed at the nursing home where he resided in his final years. CLICK here TO PURCHASE FROM AMAZON.COM.
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Reinventing Yourself in Your Retirement Years 