Earl Rodriguez

I do not really like animals.

I know, I know so many of your just unfollowed me or unfriended me. I don't know why this is, maybe because my grandma Mary Lou made me hold her mean monkey Mitzy all the time, I don't know.

Deja, 3 years old, holding her grandma's pet monkey.

It's not that I'm mean to animals, I would NEVER be, I'm not just fond of them (I like babies though, does that count for anything!?!)

HOWEVER, there is only one animal I actually do love.

Penguins.

Every since I saw the movie "Happy Feet" and met Mumble the tap dancing penguin, I love them!

I have several stuffed penguins that live in my house, the closest thing we will EVER have to pets (much to my hub's sadness). But we love our penguins...

We have Gwinn (on the far left), who is pink and a little plump but we love her none-the-less & her brother Waddles (on the far right), who is the second to youngest and super cute with his giant eyes... The two in the middle are not important for this post (alien Lucas and one eared bunny)...

Gwin, Alien Lucas, Daniel and Waddles

and our youngest, which I will tell you all about right now...

Recently, my mom was quite sick and in the hospital, my sister, GQ and I were in the emergency room waiting room. We were sad, crying, having a hard time thinking about our mom being in pain, it was a dark, sad day for our whole family.

Hubs/GQ left for a few minutes and came back and handed me a tiny little penguin, that looked just like our little Waddles, but smaller. I asked him where the heck he found it?

He told me that he saw it sitting on the desk in the waiting room and asked the women working the desk where she got it. She told him someone had left it there a few days earlier. Being bold, he asked if he could take it and give it to his wife. I'm sure the women thought he was crazy but let him take it anyway. Afterall, the little penguin was dirty, tattered and looked like he had been through a lot, she was probably going to throw him away (gasp).

Anyway, this little penguin brought me so much comfort that night. I can't explain the importance of that one little thing at the moment but I just held that little penguin and somehow I felt a little better. I just felt like it was there for a purpose, as a little gift for me when I needed it most. I'm thankful my husband saw it, asked about it and had the courage to "take it in".

We love this little penguin. We brought him home, bathed him (well he got thrown in the washer but hey we put it on cold so he was fine) and gave him a name, Earl Rodriguez (E.R.). Every time GQ or I travel or are a part now Earl Rodriguez joins us. He's a little source of comfort; I don't know his past story but I'm super glad he came into our lives.

Keep your eyes peeled for little Earl Rodriguez's in your life, those little morsals of happiness are out there and mean someone loves you, I just know it!

Earl Rodriguez