Therapy

I will admit it has been a while since I visited our calves and goats. The kids do those chores, so unless something is wrong and needs to be looked at, I have not been going that direction. If a calf is sick when I go over that is what I am looking for. I check all for signs of sickness. The same is true for the goats. Today was different. Today I just visited. I took some time, took some photos, and remembered how much I love them. The calves, the goats, the cows... all of them.

     When all I do is milk them or feed them or take care of them, sometimes I forget what they do for me. So as I just visited. I remembered.
      I used to kind of roll my eyes a little when I heard of people going to therapy and paying to cuddle with a cow or a goat. Not heard of it? Because it's out there. Seems to be pretty popular. Doctors "prescribe" it. College students do it during finals to relieve stress. All while I'm thinking, we have all these animals and I'm still stressed. Maybe I was just doing it wrong. Maybe once in a while I need to stop thinking what can I do for them and think what can they do for me?  It's not just that I love our animals. This is something deeper. Like maybe looking in their eyes, petting their heads or patting their backs really touches my soul. I know, sounds kind of hokie, but still, that's where I felt the calm settle.

How could you not feel calm with this face looking  at you, beard blowing in the wind?