Amy has been dragonsitting while her friend visits family abroad. Luckily, the two dragons are not fighting over each other’s cockroaches, but are chill and get along. Both lizards are cute, but I admire Sunshine’s beautiful orange color.
Thanks for the good-night kiss, Sunshine. I love you, too! Mwuah!
Sunshine is a lizard of many hats, not to mention talents, personality traits, and hobbies. Here, he is helping Amy celebrate her 11th birthday. Happy Birthday Amy!
I was happy to see Sunshine in person on a short trip to visit Amy’s family. And he seemed happy to see me, too, even if I do say so myself. Sunshine ate shredded kale from my outstretched fingers, and clambered right up to a shoulder perch (above). He’s still plenty spikey to pet, but so calm and gentle–and grown up!
Amy has been sick and home from school. A heating pad helped calm and comfort her tummy. And Sunshine was happy to hang out on that heat, adding his comforting presence to her convalescence.
When Amy was sick and had to stay home from school, Sunshine kept her company: a quiet, steady, nonjudgmental, comforting (dare I say, loving?) friend. Sunshine helped her through it.
Sunshine is two years old already. He and Amy quickly became BFFs: best friends forever. So glad Amy found her Sunshine.
PS. Such cute little toesies!
Let’s make a book on the Waldo model: Where’s Sunshine? Or the Sesame Street jingle: “One of these things is not like the other”! Sunshine fits right in with all of Amy’s cute friends, except that Sunshine is the cutest and best of them all. Such a cute face!
There’s nothing Amy likes more than a snuggle with Sunshine. I’m thinking he doesn’t mind too much, either. Sunshine is getting so big, and has beautiful color. Maybe that comes from the roaches hee-hee. And look at those cute little toes.
Amy and Sunshine both need their early-morning before-school cuddle time.
Which means Amy is sometimes running late for school!
Amy brought Sunshine to breakfast this morning. She suddenly laughed, observing, He’s wrapped up like a burrito! But she quickly added that she had brought Sunshine to breakfast, not for breakfast.
Sunshine is all grown up. Look how little this bearded dragon was as a baby, and how plump and beautiful he is today. Amy has grown tall and beautiful, too!
Sunshine is so pretty in pink. All that color! I just know he’s smiling under that thorny exterior.
Amy is all dressed up and ready to go to church.
One last snuggle with Sunshine before leaving.
Dear Amy. I know I am thorny and spiny, but you love me anyway. You make me soft pink things. I love my new pillow and blanket–they are perfect! Thank you! Je t’adore! Love, Sunshine.
Amy is “Just a Girl Who Loves Bearded Dragons”!
What’s not to love?!
Hi Sunshine!
After that wonderful bath, my new pillow and comforter feel divine. Thanks for sewing them for me, Amy. You’re the best.
My name is Sunshine. Amy is my human. I am a Bearded Dragon from the scorching Outback desert. And let me tell you: this is heaven!
Sunshine welcomes Amy home every day after school. He must miss her while she’s away, because he seems pleased when she comes home. Maybe it’s partly because he knows his afternoon cockroach snack is only moments away.
Sunshine is all wrapped up and snuggly and safely tucked for Amy’s New Year’s Eve celebration, which involves beating pots and pans with wood spoons and ooohing at fireworks and playing games and munching treats. I hope Sunshine doesn’t mind the racket!
Amy is a great swimmer, a veritable dolphin. (When I swim with her, she sticks to me like a friendly octopus!) Amy’s wonderful mom taxis her to and from swim team, where Amy has learned all the standard strokes: crawl, breast stroke, back stroke, and even butterfly. Sunshine is mom’s junior cabbie, perched on her leg, helping her navigate Gilbert’s busy streets. Of course, Amy and Sunshine are always glad to be reunited after swim team.
Amy is remodeling Sunshine’s apartment. Actually, this is his short-term rental, as it were, where Sunshine sometimes hangs out during the day while Amy does her homework. Comfy quarters. His main house is a large glass tank with a rope hammock and a heat lamp. No crickets jumping around in there–Sunshine ate them all!
Amy loves to love and pamper Sunshine. He is so calm and gentle and patient. And Amy takes such good care of him.
“I love you, Sunshine.”
Thank you, Sunshine, for helping me with my homework!
I love you!
(I’m so glad you’re so cute and so smart!)
Sunshine is always up for Sunday Story Time.
And Amy loves to read.
The more books the better.
Even a lizard enjoys a little spa time, and Amy sees that Sunshine does not go without. Being a creature of the Australian Outback desert, a warm bath is in order, followed by time lounging under the sun lamp. Isn’t his color gorgeous? All I can say is, if I were a bearded dragon, I would want Amy to be my human.
Sunshine began his life of friendship with Amy just seven months ago as a tiny young lizard. Now he is in full adolescence, and still calm, patient, and pleasant. Amy thought a portrait of her friend was in order. Here is her first “peek-a-boo” angle.
And now, Sunshine’s full-color portrait, drawn expertly by Amy. In Portuguese one would say, “Tal e qual,” meaning “Exactly so.” Great work, Amy!
Amy and Sunshine decided to go into the delivery business, called “Delivery Squad.” Watch out UPS! Amy did all the initial heavy lifting by building the business headquarters. And she designed and fabricated a specialty delivery van, backpack, and cap to fit her Bearded Lizard partner. Perhaps unfortunately, Sunshine can deliver packages only from one side of the dining table to the other. But the service is personal!
Ready for business!
Amy works hard all year long on her homework, especially that pesky math. And Sunshine is right there with her, no doubt whispering hints to the correct answers. They are a studious pair!
Amy loves riding the zip line her dad built in the back yard. What a thrill for to speed through the air. But this is one activity where Sunshine says, Leave me out! The whirring metallic sound of the pulley racing over the cable alarms the lizard, and is the only sound or event that has caused her to gape and frill. And that’s okay. Sunshine doesn’t have to like everything!
This poem is written from the perspective of my daughter, Laura (then 9), who lost her special duck Wingers to marauding dogs. Other beloved creatures succumbed, like her kitten, Diamond. Laura and I somberly buried each in the garden, resting them on beds of green grass, and covering them with loosely sprinkled rose petals. Each funeral was tender, both sad and sweet.
SPRINKLED WITH ROSE PETALS
Wingers was my special duck.
I raised her from a day-old chick.
But she died when the neighbor’s dogs roved over
In the middle of the night.
Diamond was my precious kitten.
I watched her being born.
I stroked her fur when she lay sick.
I gently stroked her fur.
I found a yellow-breasted song bird:
Her feathers scattered on the grass;
Her wings stretched out;
Her beak upturned, eyes staring at the sky.
I laid them all in garden graves,
On beds of soft, cool grass,
Wrapped in soft, white cloth.
I sprinkled them with rose petals,
Red and pink and white.
The deaths of dear pets have hurt my children’s tender feelings many times over as many years. The sad fact is: pets die. Sometimes from neglect; sometimes from sickness; sometimes from old age. From tiny hamsters to guinea pigs, and from chickens to full-sized goats, each death raised in the children’s innocent minds anew the questions of why things die, and why did their heart have to hurt so much when saying good-bye to friends. I grieved for them and with them as they grieved their losses. The day one of our pet goats died, Erin and Laura cried and cried. I didn’t know how to comfort them. But I stayed with them and talked with them and did my best to sooth them. I wrote this poem about the occasion. It isn’t a great poem, but it expresses poetically the bitter-sweet experience of losing our pet goat. You can read more about our pet goats in Chapter 13: Of Goats and a Pot-Bellied Pig post in the Rabbit Lane: Memoir page of this blog.
OUR PET GOAT DIED TODAY
Our pet goat died today.
We noticed he was sick:
gasping for breath;
struggling to raise his head off the ground.
Big hands placed him in the November sun;
little hands rubbed him warm,
coaxed him to suck from the bottle, but he wouldn’t, or he couldn’t.
Then he was dead.
He was our friend, and he was gone.
I held him and gathered my little children close around,
where they wept as death and loss seeped into their reality:
“I don’t want him to die,” they sobbed.
“I’m sad too,” I said.
Daughters chose the burial place,
near Diamond, last Spring’s kitten.
Father and son dug deep in the hard clay.
Old chicken straw made a bed and a pillow and a blanket,
to keep our goat warm and comfortable
in his resting place.
Fall’s last roses placed around his head
would bring him pleasant smells in Winter.
A child’s graveside prayer,
trusting an unseen wonder,
would protect the goat and comfort their sad hearts.
“Daddy, where do goats go when they die?” they asked,
knowing that I would know the answer.
I looked in my heart for sweetness and truth:
“I’m sure God loves goats just like he loves people, so goats must go to heaven.”
Through tears they asked hopefully, “Will we see him again?”
“I hope so,” I said. Then, “Yes, I’m sure we will.”
Worried at the thought of the goat covered with earth, they asked,
“What will happen to his body when he’s buried?”
Searching again:
“This is the goat’s resting place, and you have made it very special
with your flowers and prayers.
He will just rest here awhile.”
One last scratch on his nose to say good-bye.
My son works to fill the hole.
My daughters gently place the reddest rose petals on the mound.
Then they run off to play,
and I hear the scared bleating of a lonely goat.
Rabbit Lane 