(#5144) I feel like Dr. Doolittle

      I have 4 little characters as my wards. 2 dogs and 2 cats. They individually are much different than any of the others but the one thing they seem to have in common is me. I guess I have made myself the center of their universes and they revolve around me constantly. From the one being as clingy as possible and on the other extreme one barely stays within 10 feet of me. However though, they are all close enough much of the time that one would think they might like being around me. I am well satisfied with that outcome because each of them is particularly special to me.
     I have been at home most of the time since I don't like going out anywhere too often. I almost could say I don't like going out at all. However I must and do. Now it seems with inflation eating into my operating budget, such as it is, I may well be going out more often to a part time job. I wish I didn't have to but rising costs are really putting a pinch on my ability to cover all the bills and food without much left for emergency items that seem to crop up every month or so. I know my little wards will not like the fact of me leaving during the day if that is what occurs but I must do what is needed to keep us all safe and together.
     My little wards came to me from desperate situations and giving them the safety and comfort of a forever home is now my number one domestic priority. From the dog pound, from the streets, from 2 being given away to me. Their little lives had been unsettled before me and now that they have all been with me from the latest one at least a couple of years. They seem to be adjusted to each other and me. There isn't much I can do in this world to make the world better other than right here at home with my charges. I try to give good advice as to how we humans should exist but that too often falls on deaf ears. So be it. But with my wards I can and do the things they need to live a life without fear and with bountiful love and safe harbor.