Hair of the Dog

Simil similibus curantes.

After I gave my oldest son a haircut last night, my daughter snuck a handful of the hair from the floor, and came to me exclaiming, "look at my little hair dog!" She kissed the tuft of hair in such a way that I knew there was going to be heartbreak when I had to clean up. I'm beginning to wish I had kept one of those biology mice. My daughter wants a pet so badly. I don't know why, she has 3 little brothers. But a pet does more than play with us or provide entertainment. They offer a chance to practice responsibility and perhaps a latent maternal instinct; certainly not to the extent of this perversion...

... but for my daughter I think she is yearning for something, not that is her own really, but for something that brings her into a more private space than she usually get to enjoy. An animal with whom one becomes intimately acquainted is like some furred Virgil, leading our soul to a deeper knowledge of the order of the universe and our relation to it. Those whom we care for teach us much about ourselves.