Disnementia

I was watering and weeding in the garden several days ago when a Chickadee flew to a limb near where I was working. Mr. Chickadee chirped and chattered as he watched me work and I finally realized he wanted me to put some fresh, cool water in the bird bath for him to enjoy. I took care of the bird bath and, sure enough, the Chickadee flew down, took a few sips of water then proceeded to take a nice cool bath. After a few minutes of splashing, he flew back to the limb, chattered his thanks and went on his way. This seemingly innocent incident reminded me once again that I have a severe case of "disnementia".

"Disnementia" describes the belief that movies in which animals have human characteristics are real rather than fantasy. "Disnementia" is usually caused by parents (mine) who take their children (me) to see every Disney movie ever made. The condition is made more severe when children ( and adults ) have very creative and active imaginations.

"Disnementia" can produce terrible feelings of guilt and angst. That little mouse that I don't really want in my kitchen could be Jacques or Gus Gus. The ham in my sandwich ( gasp ) could have originally been Babe's relative. Ants, cute little bugs, lobsters, fish, cows, chickens, ducks......the list is endless and I don't even want to talk about what happens during deer season.

At one point in my life, I thought I could alleviate some of the guilt by becoming a vegetarian. And then.....I watched my first Veggie Tales video.