May always feels like a deep breath. Every month offers something to look forward to, but May and September are perhaps the loveliest months here. Despite having several brief re-appearances from snow over the last week, we are solidly into spring, the world is light-filled and greening, flowers are starting to bloom, birds are singing the sun up, temperatures are neither too hot or too cold, and the chimpanzees and bovines are joyfully roaming with a returned sense of ease as they search for all the spring grass they can find.
I tend to think of May in shades of purple and neon-green, lilac scented. Upon her family’s arrival to the sanctuary, we chose to celebrate Jody’s birthday on Mother’s Day in honor of the nine children (seven sons and two daughters) she gave birth to while in biomedical research. It’s a special day of honoring all our chimpanzee mothers and the children they gave birth to, some who are thankfully living in sanctuary, some who have passed, all of whom are cherished and remembered.
As most of you are probably aware, April 30th marked the first year since Jody’s death. In perfect Pacific Northwest Chimpanzee weather, the chimpanzees had wonderful forages on Young’s Hill and the Bray and received their first bunch of fresh lilacs to enjoy (most love to smell them and eat them!). Jody would have been 49 this year. The lilac trees we planted at her grave site just began leafing.
Truth be told, there were enough lilacs for everyone who was interested to enjoy, but Jamie and Missy said, “This is great! Too bad you didn’t bring enough for everyone else…” As a result, Negra, Annie and Burrito were luckily able to sneak 1-2 each, Foxie declined, and unfortunately, though still new to the concept of eating lilacs, Cy’s group ended up having to wait for the next harvesting. But lilac season is in full swing here, so don’t worry, we’re all on lilac high alert and there will be plenty more before the brief season ends!
Missy is probably the one most fond of lilacs and though she loathes having her photo taken, she tolerated a couple quick photos as long as I kept the lilacs coming:
Also this month, we get to celebrate Jody’s wildly handsome son, Clay! Look. At. Him! He will be turning 37 on May 20th! Thankfully, he’s been living in sanctuary at Save the Chimps for many years now. Clay was taken from Jody at just 10 hours old and spent 12 years of his childhood being used in invasive biomedical research. As a result, when he made it to sanctuary living with other chimpanzees was understandably a huge challenge for him and he spent several years living on his own in Special Needs where he could take things at his own pace. So we could not be more thrilled to know that Clay’s recently been successfully integrated with a family of his own! We know the enormous amount of courage this takes for chimpanzees (and humans), so it’s really the best of news! (Note: Clay is half-brothers with Burrito! They share the same dad, Mack). *Photos courtesy of Save the Chimps.
With his new family in their 3 acre outdoor habitat!
Our beautiful chimpanzee and bovine mamas here at the sanctuary…
Annie, mother to four daughters and three sons:
Foxie, mother to two sons and two daughters (and countless France Doras, Strawberry Shortcakes and trolls):
Missy, mother to one son and one daughter:
Negra, mother to one son and two daughters:
Beautiful Honey and her daughter, Meredith:
And Betsy and her beloved boy, Nutmeg (left), who is missed so very much:
I’d be one of the first to admit Mother’s Day can pack a wallop. Having lost my mama at a young age, in the handful of weeks half-way between my birthday and Christmas, put several holidays forever on the blacklist in one fell swoop. And I know I’m not alone in such sentiments about this, or probably a lot of holidays for many of us, for all kinds of reasons. Celebrating Jody and all our chimpanzee mamas on Mother’s Day has been a balm for me for many years and while I can’t say my heart doesn’t twist up over the newly added bittersweetness of the day, it will continue to be one of our most gorgeous spring celebrations, both at the sanctuary and in our hearts.
Something that soundly resonates with me was expressed by author and professor Kate Bowler, “Life is so beautiful. And life is so hard. For everyone.” And both of those truths can exist in the same heartbeat. “Culture loves to tell us to look on the bright side. Just be cheerful, it’s all about your mindset. But that approach has huge disadvantages. It prevents us from being honest, it bulldozes past real feelings and really it just prevents us from having compassion.” Yet it provides us opportunities to create “more every day empathy and more every day acts of compassion.”
Mothering exists in a special realm all it’s own. It exists beyond gender, societal beliefs and expectations, dates on a calendar, number of or desire for children, profound loss, ever-present grief, wishes, hopes, or even individuals outside of ourselves. And it is by no means limited to humans. Jody exemplified so completely that there are endless ways to give and receive mothering and compassion. To both others and ourselves. Through the sanctuary *you* help make possible, Jody curated a life and legacy that will continue to bloom through all our seasons.
Honey B, Missy’s daughter, in a lilac nest:
