Growing up, all my friends wanted the usual pets – dogs, cats,
hamsters, horses. You know, the regular pet arsenal. Me? I wanted a chimp. Oh,
did I want a chimpanzee. I had pictures of chimps on the walls of my room, I
checked out library books and pored over chimp-related details, I even tried to
dress as a chimp for Halloween once. Any time which seemed like the right time
(but, in retrospect, clearly wasn’t), I nudged my parents about maybe bringing
a chimp home to live with us. To my unending surprise, through all my pleading
and well thought-out reasoning, they remained unmoved. Couldn’t they see what a
great pet a chimp would make? Still, you had to give me points for my
single-minded dedication to this cause.
It wasn’t until years later that my dream was realized. Well,
sort of. My partner, Michael, endeared himself to me forever, when early on in
our relationship, he displayed an inspired performance for me. Jumping wildly
around the room and perfectly imitating the ooh-ooh-aah-aah of my favorite
animal, he made me laugh until the tears flowed and won my heart like no other.
