I feel so touched by your posts and letters. It's amazing to me how many of you are concerned about my health, for example (which is up and down, but is certainly better than it was in the early years), and how many of you really "get it" about the deep relationship we can have with an animal! THANK YOU for sharing so much with me!
I think that if we are looking and listening, it's possible that we can be reached by an animal on a deep level. We're all connected, and that includes animals. After all, we're all made of the same "stuff" and have minds, hearts, souls, and bodies. I'm not surprised when I hear about a particular animal appearing to you over and over again to comfort you, especially after losing a loved one! There's so much we don't know! Science is one way that we explore and try to understand how things work, but it's just scratching the surface. We don't really know how it all works!
I think that before we had language we must have used a form of telepathy to communicate, and science is showing that animals still do. If that's true, then there is possibly a way to reach out to animals with our hearts and minds after all.
If you haven't already, read Grayson, by Lynne Cox. She's a champion cold water swimmer who was doing her normal workout in the Pacific ocean when she was approached by a lost baby gray whale looking for his mother. She stayed with him the entire time while looking for his mom! She and the baby tried every possible way to find the mother and to call the mother to no avail. After hours of this, Lynne dove down and then thought with all her might, sending a thought message to the mother, "Your baby is HERE! Come HERE! Your baby is HERE!" and sure enough, here came the mother. She had about a hundred or more witnesses to this because the Long Beach pier had filled up with people as the coast guard and other boating people had pulled up to her out in the water asking why she wasn't coming in to shore and she told them what was going on.
When the mother came back, she nudged Lynne over and over again and the baby grunted a sort of thank you to her. What an AMAZING story!
She contacted me after reading about how I used a similar method to communicate with Wesley. The book, Grayson, is just magical. It reads like a fairy tale, only we know it's true. It's the kind of story that would be turned into a myth if there hadn't been so many eyewitnesses!
PS: I still need questions from you and ideas about what you'd want to hear about in the next book about Wesley - what do you want to know about him that you don't already know, if anything?
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14 comments:
Grayson was an amazing book! I thought about it while I was reading about Wesley.
Re: questions, I would enjoy reading more about what kind of toys Wesley enjoyed and how he played with them.
Our little aracari is smitten with a rattle toy and will come racing to play with it... she loves to toss and shake it.
Funny how they love certain toys and others don't work at all.
Stacey,
Thank you for making the effort and birthing such a wonderous, love song of your life and adventures with Wesley. Your love, care and compassion for All "creatures" and Wesley's spirit live forever.
With Loving Alohas,
Tony Allen (songofunion@gmail.com)
Hawaii
P.S. Read your book via my Kindle 2
Stacey,
I just finished your book, and absolutely loved it. Your lovely owl friend Wesley was such a dear soul. I'm so happy you wrote the book so that we could share in your amazing life.
You asked for questions we'd like to know about Wesley's life. One of my favorite parts of the book was when you decoded Wesley's expressions and commentary on a typical day (I think you were cooking spaghetti?). Your writing style was excellent, and I thought it was one of the passages that most clearly communicated both your personalities and relationship.
My question is, are there any other episodes that you could treat with the same style? I would love to read another set of Wesley's thought processes.
Best wishes,
Marie
Have you seen this photo of the rescued greyhound dog who now rescues animals? I thought it was super sweet because there's an owl he has helped out:
http://cuteoverload.com/2009/04/07/a-lean-mean-surrogate-mom-machine/
My eyes are still swollen, as I've just finished your book. What a relief and a joy to find someone else who loves and has been loved so completely by a non-human! Thanks so much for sharing your life with Wesley.
It'd be great if you did another book on Wesley. The more little stories of his great character, the better!
Just finished reading Wesley the Owl, and sobbed my way thru "The End". I had to shut myself in the bathroom so as not to let my husband see me crying my eyes out.
Thank you sooo much for writing the story of Wesley. It touched my heart beyond belief. I keep telling people "Wesley ancedotes" and they probably think I'm nuts, but I think he (and you) are so amazing and I'm bursting to tell others.
I'm thrilled that you are writing another Wesley book. ANYTHING, any little detail, would be welcome reading. I want to know everything there is to know about him.
I hope that you are and contiinue to feel well and able to do your work rehabilitating wildlife. Most of all, I hope you will adopt another baby owl and write about him. He won't be another Wesley, but his own special being.
Hello Stacey!
I'm Brazilian, so, sorry for my English. I read your book in three days because I couldn't stop reading it! I never have much contact with owls, but I really love them, so I love your book. Wesley is a lovely owl and you are the best mommy that any animal can ever have.
I have a dog, he's 13 years old and he has deep eyes, like Wesley. I know that my dog is an angel to me, too. I really enjoy the photo that the baby Wesley was with a dog, it is adorable.
questions for your next book: you can write more about your dialogue with Wesley, and how you understand each other, with a lot of examples, like one in the end of your book, when Wesley was with you ih the kitchen. You can also write more about the habits of the owls, I'm really interested on it.
Congratulations for your book, I will wait for the next one!
Dear Stacey,
I'm Italian and I learned about your book from an article which appeared on "Il Venerdì di Repubblica" magazine about one month ago. I bought the book in the original English edition and I'm reading it in these nights. Knowing I was going to hurt myself, I began by reading the final pages, so I was in tears right from the start.
Wesley is amazing in his complex personality. I loved the way you described how he learned to fly and how he felt embarrassed when you laughed at him. I'm loving everything in your story anyway. I totally agree with Diana's message above, any other detail about Wesley would be interesting reading.
I wanted to send you the article about Wesley published in "Il Venerdì", but it seems there's no way to post attachments.
I'd love to talk about your book with my colleagues, but I seem to work in a place where people only think about business, clubs and drinks... but books like yours make me think once more that most of us humans are totally missing the point in life.
I do wish you get the famous permit to keep another owl. Who else better than you as a companion?
I deeply admire you for your love, humour and courage.
Dear Stacey,
Thank you for writing such a beautiful and touching story. I couldn't read it fast enough - I laughed, cried, and was genuinely amazed. Wesley was an elegant soul and I offer my condolences to you. I still think about the small, weak little kitten I rescued and shared my life with... and she passed away almost 12 years ago at the age of 10.
For those who claim that animals have no soul have obviously never looked into the eyes of an animal that loves or needs them. It's transporting.
I would love to have listened to Wesley's vocalizations - how wonderful that you and he were able to break the language barrier, such as it was between human and owl!
I hope your health continues to improve and I do very much look forward to more Wesley stories.
I'd like to share one of my favorite poems with you. I think it speaks to all who open their hearts to animals...
If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.
-Emily Dickinson
Wow thats an amazing story.
I have a question: Are you planing or have a research permit and another owl or other animal?
P.S. I have a letter i would like to send to you, could you or someone help?
Hello Stacey,
this is Laura from Italy again. Last night I wept my way through the final chapters of 'Wesley the Owl'. Suffice it to say that I woke up at 5:30 thinking of the whole story, and even this morning at work I can't put it out of my mind - and it's being like this since I started reading.
I hope you're doing better and better with your health, and your new puppy looks very sweet.
I do hope you're going to write another book on Wesley. My questions are:
- did you ever take Wesley out on trips or vacation? If you did, what were his reactions to the outside/natural world?
- did he know in some way that he was not a pet but a wild animal, did it show any ancestral relation or knowledge of the natural world he saw 'out of the window' so to say? did he ever show any desire to, for example, get to know how a tree was made, how it felt to be outside?
- did he ever relate in a friendly way to other animals? You say in the book that at three months he started to avoid dogs for example. Did he shun other animals all his life?
- Do you think it would be possible for barn owls to get used to, for example, a couple or an entire family, or do they bond unfailingly with their imprint person only? Because I felt a bit sorry for Wesley when he could not be with you and did not accept anyone else close to him in the meantime. Even though they're naturally solitary creatures...
- What do you think he thought of the girl owl peeping in from outside your window that night? Did he show any desire to meet her again in the following nights?
- Did he invent other games to entertain himself, like the water and the magazines? Things a wild owl would not do?
Then I have a request about the book itself. Instead of the b/w pictures along the text, this time you could add a glossed paper, colour photo portfolio at the center of the book. So we can see Wesley in all its beauty.
Another suggestion is, if you have time, you might create a dedicated YouTube account to post Wesley videos. I mean if you're not jealous of them... you're the only person who knew him so closely, you were like a couple separated from everything else, I don't know if I'd be jealous of the videos in your place, but for us they'd be lovely to watch.
So we're definitely looking forward to more about Wesley...
Hello Stacey,
I finished your book last night, and, of course, was in tears. Your book about Wesley was so wonderfully written! Every time I learned new things about owls, I shared the information with my boyfriend. He was just as fascinated as I was. I have always had a love for owls, and love to listen to the Barred Owls that live near my boyfriend's house here in Southwest Missouri. I had no idea what emotional and passionate creatures owls are. I hope you will write more about Wesley. I loved reading about how he would play and how he would "talk" to you. You had so much patience with him, and I admire you for that. Thank you for writing this story. I look forward to the next!
From your friend and fellow owl-lover in Missouri.
Hi Stacey,
My name is Roxy. I'm twelve years old & I loved Wesley. It was the most amazing book I've ever read! I think Wesley lives on in many peoples hearts, including mine, as well as yours. I think you're a really good author & should write some more books about the animals that you work with.
Lots of hugs,
Roxy Snelling (soxy-rox@hotmail.com)
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