DarwinandMe
Madeline is a diva. A drama queen if ever there was one. But she came by it honestly. Truth be told, her owner (me) is a little bit dramatic at the best of times and when it comes to Madeline, right from the get-go things were a little chaotic. I'll start at the beginning. I was driving by Main Street Market at the end of a really really difficult work day and something made me pull on over, and seek out the Inside Green tent. There she was in all her Madagascar glory. We signed the adoption papers, I promised to impart all the best of me to her well-being; and off I drove.
The rest of the story makes sense if you know that I never had children; never was responsible for any being that didn't pack up their own computer and bags at day end to return to their own homes. So having Madeline with me that night (and remember it WAS a chaotic night) was something different for me when it came to the responsibility scale. Piecing together the timeline (or maybe I should say the 'crimeline' as the whole incident has a certain degree of guilt attached), it appears I parked the car in the underground lot, struggled to get all the take-homes together, put Madeline on the roof of the car ... and that was the end of it/her.
Halfway through SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE I jumped up and realized Madeline had not made it inside. Ran downstairs ... and no Madeline. Some guilt of course, but the soothing words of a friend who reassured me that obviously someone needed the companionship of Madeline more than I, and given the point was 'community building' I had just short-circuited the first task. (Ah what tales we tell our irresponsible selves!)
Fast forward a month and a chat with a neighbour and a chance remark .. and the lost is now found. Madeline had tumbled off the roof of the car apparently and said neighbour had found her. None the worse for wear, she is now taking a central place in the home and manages to make it very clear that she'll be the one to decide when the next move is happening. Which brings us to propagation. Madeline was not quite ready to have an 'off with her head' moment so she's been growing happily the last few months and ensuring her place is solid. This weekend she intimated that I could run a few worthy names by her for Step #2, so stay tuned. Madeline is ready to divide and conquer soon. And I've learned a lesson about stewardship (and even more about taking more time to stop and 'smell the Madagascars', and less time on trying to fit so much busy-ness into one day.)
