Ask the Cow

There are dog people--out-going, plain-speaking, and down-to-earth--and there are cat people--reticent, removed, watching carefully from the shadows. And there are fish people--silent observers who delight in the mysteries of the deep--and there are bird people--dreamers enchanted by all that is or seems to be exotic.

And there are donkey people, goat people, chicken people, insect people, cow people....

Author Rita M. Reynolds is a cow person. And a dog person and a cat, donkey, goat, chicken, insect, person. In fact she's an every-living-thing person whose animal sanctuary in Batesville, Virginia contains so much life, she could populate a Compassion Zodiac.

Animal people respect animals as friends, companions, fellow-travelers in this magical world, and as teachers. Who doesn't spend some time playing ball with the dog after a long day at work? Who doesn't mark the beginning, middle, and end of every day by walking the dog? Who doesn't introduce their baby to a puppy so that the child can learn kindness, warmth, empathy? Oops, there I go. I'm a dog person and I'm speaking for myself. The point is, though, that we choose the animals in our lives--or, more accurately, they choose us--based on our dispositions and our needs and our capacity to love. Animal people know, and delight in knowing, that we are part of this world, not keepers of it.

Rita's tremendous capacity to love led her to Batesville so many years ago to care for animals in need of care for any reason at all. She provides them with a safe and loving place. Her previous book, Blessing the Bridge, is her story of the lessons on living and dying that animals have taught her over the years. Her quarterly magazine, LaJoie & Co., shares the lessons she and others learn from our animal companions. These works are lessons in grace.

She met her bovine friend Christina when Christina came calling at the sanctuary. This friendship was the cow's choice. The farmer who had felt he owned the cow saw things differently, though, and he brought the cow back to his place against Christina's wishes after she walked away the first time. The farmer had yet to learn: it was the cow's choice; Christina made her way back to Rita. Happily, the farmer caught on and gave up, and Rita and Christina have been together ever since.

Ask the Cow is Rita's story of their time together so far. This lovely, delightfully insightful book is Rita's spiritual memoir of her relationship with her special friend and teacher. By spending time with Christina and being open to Christina's beautiful way of seeing the world, Rita has learned even greater kindness, compassion, humility, love. (I have known Rita for 10 years and have been reading her work for as long; I would not have thought it was possible for any person to love more--but it is.) Each of the 30 chapters describes in clear, honest prose one of Christina's lessons on living humbly and compassionately. The book is full of gentle humor and imagery that places the reader right in the barn with these two faithful companions.

I found myself slowing down as I approached the end of the book only to defer ending it. I was happy in that barn, and I was learning plenty. But an important lesson of the book is to take the lessons out of the barn and into the larger world and to live in, with, for, from, by, and out of love in everything. Anyway, the barn will be there, and so will Rita and Christina, should I come back to learn again the lessons of this bovine sage and the gentle woman who has given her wisdom to the world.