Living Among the Animals

I can't go into any room of my house without seeing wild animals.  

No, I'm not talking about my kids (hee hee), but rather a menagerie of the stuffed sort, lying here and there and everywhere.  I have to admit that it sometimes drives me crazy!!!  Every morning after breakfast, I walk back into my bedroom to get ready for the day, and there on my bed are piles and piles of stuffed animals.  They are hiding in tents (made by the kids with blankets and pillows) or peering out from under the covers.  

Then after (and during) lunch, I find these animals on the table, each with its own bowl of plastic food.  In the afternoon, many of the animals are brought to the vet's office (aka our living room) for a routine checkup or maybe a minor surgery.  Then before bedtime, the animals are swept away, back in their proper places for the night.  

But there are always lingerers.  

A puppy on the edge of my bathtub.  

A tiger underneath the end table.  

A flamingo that has been left on the window sill.  

Sometimes I grumble silently when I see these animals that were, for whatever reason, left behind.  I guess I figure that if they are putting all the others away, why leave just a few here and there?  But then yesterday, as I was staring at a pig sitting on the back of the chair, I realized something.  I realized that there will come a day when my floors will be free of stuffed animals.  Someday my living room might just be a plain old living room instead of doubling as a veterinarian's office.  And I have a feeling that when that day comes, I will surely miss my little animal friends, not to mention the whirlwind days of my kids being little.  Time passes so quickly it seems, and I know that each moment that passes is one moment closer to that day.  

So, I guess the next time I see these random critters making themselves at home in my "space", I'll simply pick it up...and smile (I'm going to be doing a lot of smiling).  :)