Slugworts

A silly name, but that’s what we call our animal family members and each other when we’re being extremely lazy. And, many’s a morning that the name fits for at least 3 members of this Puerto Rican “family.”

First, there’s the dogs: give ‘em a person in bed or the hammock, no matter the time of day, and they’re there…either in the bed (if allowed), or on the floor sleeping next to it. At times, particularly mornings, they stay in bed well past (we’ve seen up to 2 hours) the time the rest of the beings have gotten up and moved about in the morning routine of dressing, washing up, having coffee, and opening the house to the beautiful day.

Second, there’s my caballo (horse), Chocolate, whose alter ego is Ferdinand, the bull. For those of you unfamiliar with this old childhood storybook, Ferdinand is a bull without the bull-like characteristics of being fierce and charging anything in its path. He prefers to sit under a tree, smelling the flowers. One day he is spotted by a famous traveling matador who is looking for the fiercest bull in the land to use in a bullfight. At the moment the matador sees Ferdinand, a bee stings the bull and he rears up, snorting, charging, and gouging at the air with his horns. This convinces the matador that Ferdinand is the fierce bull he is looking for and so he has him transported to Madrid for the bullfight. Alas, when the fight comes, the matador has a rose in his teeth and Ferdinand would rather sit and smell it than fight and so, in the end, Ferdinand is returned to his pasture to just sit and smell the flowers. Chocolate, as Ferdinand, likes to just sit/lie in his yard behind our house, smelling the flowers or better yet, sleeping. In fact, he can frequently be seen sleeping on his side, with all four legs sticking straight out. He is indeed a very relaxed caballo when he’s in his own space. Even when standing, he frequently rests his chin on the giant sloping branch of the almond tree back by the corner of our house and dozes with a look of quiet contentment on his face.

Third, there’s me, Elaine. I have always been very capable of “sleeping in.” However, to my credit, I must say that now getting to bed many times before 10 pm, makes sleeping past 8 am not even possible. All the same, I am not what you would call a “morning person.” While John can be up at 6 am and ready to go scuba diving by 7 am, I am still yawning, stretching, and beginning to be part of the day for another hour or so, even if I’m already out of bed.

I’m just very very blessed to have a life where I can say that my norm is now 8+ hours of sleep, rather than the 4-6 hours I used to get before moving to Puerto Rico. I happily admit to being part of the “slugwort” clan!