Lion Stories

On Saturday night we slept at Tim and Penny's and I had a little flashback to a time when Leah and I were kids and sleeping together in her room. We were staying up giggling and talking until Tim called up the steps that it was time to be quiet and go to sleep. On Saturday I heard my sister and my daughter laying in bed in that very same room, giggling and talking late into the night. The house where my mother grew up, where I felt at home and spent many hours laughing and playing has now entered into my children's lives and I hope they have as many fond memories of that place as I have.

Earlier in the day I had shared a story with David about something I thought was a memory but also seemed so crazy that it was more likely a story I had made up. He convinced me to share it with my aunts, uncles and Grandpa when we got to Grandpa's house. So, feeling really self-conscious that I had this tall tale to share, I dove in.

When we were kids, and all gathered at Grandpa's house, Matt told me about a guy who lived somewhere nearby who had a lion. He also had some other exotic animals, like maybe a monkey or something, but the part that really stuck in my mind was the lion. And Matt said that we were going to see the lion that very day. (Matt is six months older than me and way cooler and I always believed everything he told me.) Then, Aunt Patti and my mom took us to the house but the guy wasn't home. And that's where my memory/tall tale ends. I don't remember if we actually saw the lion or any other animals. But I've kept this story alive in my memory for years, twenty or more years of wondering if that really happened and how could that possibly be true? I finally spilled the beans to David and then to my family, thinking I must sound crazy. And then someone said, "I know what she's talking about. Grandpa, do you remember?" And I looked at Grandpa, who had a smile on his face and said, "Yeah I know exactly what she's talking about."

WHAT?

The lion story is TRUE??? It turns out it wasn't a lion. It was a cougar. Or perhaps a bobcat (the aunts and uncles had differing memories on that detail). There were no other animals. But Dad told me that he had a classmate who had a monkey, so maybe the stories got joined up in my mind. I laughed so hard that I cried as my aunts and uncles then started sharing their stories of the guy with the cougar. Or bobcat. I could NOT believe that my crazy story turned out to actually be real! Aunt Patti and Mom remembered going to visit and the guy not being home. And whatever happened to the giant cat? The guy let it go. Or it ran away. Or it drowned in the pool. Wow. We put that question to rest, finally, the question of whether someone out in the country would have a pet lion and our mothers would actually take us to see it. Yes, someone would, and yes, they would.