Growing up, we had a menagerie of pets. Not just dogs, I am talking a zoo! We had raccoons, possums, a de-scented skunk, Yellow head parrots, Red head parrots, African grays, 2 Macaws and a very large Boa Constrictor. Throw in, at various times, a standard poodle, a boxer, a Chihuahua, many assorted cats and well, I guess you can see where my love of animals came from.

My sister and I used to bring Boo, our raccoon up to the room when we were doing homework, we used to chase him and he would run around the bed, from top to bottom, as we laughed uncontrollabley, he would run very fast, over the top of the bed, swing over the side and run across the bottom of the bed using the mattress liner to hold on to and the wooden floor to slide his back on. It was really funny until my Mom looked under the bed; Boos claws had shredded the box spring lining!

My brother used to do his homework with, Sam, the Boa Constrictor wrapped around him, thank goodness they were both always well feed. Snakes are not warm and fuzzy pets by any stretch of the imagination but my mom and brother really loved that Boa. Many times he would get out of his glass pen and my mom would have to get my brother out of school to come home and find Sam. He had a sixth sense about that snake.

My mom never thought a pet had to be your standard dog or cat! Each of these pets brought their own unique lessons into my life and became an important part of our family.

My kids were not quiet as lucky as I was. They had many pets growing up, my son had an Iguana once and we always had dogs and cats over the years but nothing like the zoo I was privileged to grow up with!