The Real LJ Idol // Mini Season // Week 12: Jerome

[ellison]

I walked in step behind Anne as we made a beeline for the Red Barn. We had just locked up the gates after ushering guests from the main yard, and double checked locks for the turkeys and donkeys on the way back to lock up the doors for the goats, rams, and geese for the night. We headed through the large double doors and gave a quick head count

Comments

[uselesstinrelic]

Winning otomatopoeia, dude! I heard that towel perfectly. I had no idea that your internship there was so intense though. o...o;; Poor guy. His t-shirt looks really cute though!

[ellison]

Thanks!! I wasn't sure if it would work, so I'm glad to hear it did!

Ugh, yeah, it was an extremely intense year. This incident was kind of the beginning of a bunch of hard stuff that happened with the animals. Many losses, and just yeah.. I could write a book on the whole year. And maybe I will!

[bleodswean]

I enjoyed reading this. Quite a bit. You have a ken for writing long and writing with a sense of completion in capturing what it is that you're trying to convey. It's a great skill to own! Your stories are interesting and worth the effort! Poor guy....did he fully recover?

Do you still live in NorCal?

[ellison]

Yay, thank you so much!! That means a lot and is a very cool compliment to receive. :D

Oh, man. Sadly, no, he didn't. Only about a week later, he had to be euthanized as he was 12 years old and just not healing. It was really sad. I can't remember if it was that same day or the next day that Rob said, "yeah we may need to make a hard decision about him soon," and I was like WHAT, we just went through all that, we can't give up on him!! But I understood, too.

Jerome was the first one we lost while I was there, but not the last by a long shot. For a while I nicknamed my internship year: "The Year of Death and Crying." It wasn't all bad. If it'd been all bad, I would've quit. But there was a lot of sadness that year, and at the same time, it was just positive enough an experience to keep me there, and I hung in for the whole year. I was glad to go back home to Los Angeles at the end of that year though, let me tell you! <3

And now we live up just outside of Seattle. :)

[rayaso]

This was so enjoyable, and I appreciated the pictures. I was saddened to learn that Jerome did not make it. Where did you do your internship?

[ellison]

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thanks, it was a sad time for sure.

The internship was at San Francisco Zoo.

[alycewilson]

Your compassion for Jermome shines through in this.

[ellison]

Aw thank you, I'm so glad!

[kathrynrose]

I'm such an animal person. I hope Jerome is feeling better.

[ellison]

I am, too! I love them all so much

[kathrynrose]

Some people bond quickly and feel deeply. Never let anyone minimize your grief.

(I've found the same. I honestly don't understand people who aren't.)

[ellison]

Thank you!

&

(I don't understand them either!)