My brother and I had a fascination with elephants when we were little. It’s possible this started when we went on an elephant ride. You had to climb up to a platform and be placed on the elephant. It was not like a horse; the elephant almost didn’t know I was there, like I was a fly on his back, but the idea that the elephant was alive, and moving, and not a bus or train but a real live being, seemed magical to me.
Happy elephant! (not my picture)
I might have been four years old, because I can’t place when or where it happened. I don’t know if it was at a circus or an elaborate petting zoo, near home or away. I just remember the moments of elephant, and the plan that started to form: we wanted an elephant to live at our house.
We never wanted chickens, that I know of. I thought about a goat, but Mom said no right away, because of the smell, and the inevitable destruction. She knew from goats and didn’t want to live near one again.
I really wanted an elephant, or another big animal, someone who could take up more space than my father and fight off any monsters who dared to invade my room.
I didn’t want a lion, really, or any kind of cat. They struck me as a little too changeable. I never really thought of having a cow. They just didn’t seem that interactive, and, they were steak. I didn’t want a pet who could be confused with food. A giraffe would have worked great. She could have hung her head out of my bedroom window to snack on trees and keep watch over the neighborhood, and then she could rest her head on the porch roof whenever she got tired. I think my brother would have been okay with a giraffe, but for some reason Mom said no to that too. Something about the ceilings.
A lion would be a bit much. (not my picture)
A cow would always have been suspicious around dinner time. (not my picture)
A giraffe would have been wonderful! (not my picture)
We had an eighty pound Doberman Pinscher named Solomon when I was little, but even though he towered over me I never thought of him as a good elephant substitute. A friend had a slobbering blue mastiff named Bruno that was more what I was looking for; someone slow, and friendly, and soft, and smiling at me. I wanted him to go to school with me and sit at the next desk during spelling tests. I wanted him to go to summer camp with me and do the doggy paddle while I tried to stay afloat.
A blue Mastiff, just like Bruno. (not my picture)
My therapist, and, from what I gather, many other therapists as well, uses the elephant in the living room metaphor, i.e., there’s an elephant in the middle of the room and everyone is acting as if it isn’t there. The elephant could be incest or alcoholism or mental illness or domestic abuse, but whatever it is, the family denial is so potent that it makes something the size and weight of an elephant invisible.
I hadn’t heard this metaphor when I was little, there was just something about an elephant, so majestic, with rough skin, not trying to be colorful or beautiful, that felt right to me. They are matriarchal, and have long memories, neither of which I knew at the time, but maybe I sensed it. There was something about elephants that calmed me. I could maybe ride my elephant to school, and slide down her trunk, and set her up under a tree while I was in class, and bring her milk and cookies during snack time.
There was a book I read all the time about a boy who had a dinosaur as a friend, and I thought an elephant would be more practical.
The biggest argument against an elephant was, how would you get it up to the second floor so it could sleep in your room? So that’s when we started planning the elevator. We started scouting locations where the elevator could go without disrupting the floor plan too much. When my father complained about the cost of electricity, we thought about a dumbwaiter contraption, but we’d need a second elephant to help us lift the weight. Two elephants. One for each of us!
Of course, sadly, our parents prevailed, and we never built an elevator or brought home a baby elephant to raise in the backyard. I know we would have been willing to share the chores, and take turns having her sleep in our bedrooms at night, but it’s possible we wouldn’t have known how to handle the poop. That’s probably what made the decision. Everything else about an elephant living in a house on Long Island would have worked out fine; but not the poop.
I had to settle for two mini-poopers!
rachelmankowitz 
I read Danny and the Dinosaur, too! Hadn’t thought about that in years!
Trust me, I know, two mini-poopers equal a lot of poop!!!
We went for a walk on a horse trail and discovered exactly how mini my little poopers are in comparison. I can’t even imagine the size of an elephant’s poop!
Beautiful, I have a friend who loves elephants!
Thank you!
Another great post, Rachel!
Thank you!
Elephants are amazing creatures, and the feelings they have for each other…..oh, my gosh. I have a wonderful book “When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals.” The chapter on elephants made me cry. I wish you had gotten that elephant, Rachel.
Me too!
I rode an elephant once, too, and a camel. I was about 8 years old and it was at Madison Square Garden. And I fed a giraffe a peanut and marveled at its long, wet blue tongue. I am happier with a dog.
But…what if you had high ceilings? And you could have both?
Excellent points, and your incisive description of family denial in dysfunction was exactly right. You have such clarity.
Thank you!!!!!
An imaginative post with a lovely ending regarding your two mini-poopers. 😀
Thank you!
Definitely not the poop! What a fun fantasy to have as a kid. I just kept asking for another dog after our first (and only family one) died. I had to wait until I had my own home to finally get that second dog in my life.
Cindy
Fantasy? I thought it was a completely reasonable plan. And if we’d had access to the internet, my brother would have figured out how to get us an elephant of our own, no matter what our parents said.
I love this post. That is all.
Thank you so much!
Thank-you for clarifying my obsession with mastiffs. It’s now obvious to me that I wanted an elephant all along.
Exactly!!!!!!!!
Love that ending. I am much older than you but my brother and I also rode an elephant at The Bronx Zoo. it didn’t inspire us to want an elephant though. We would have settled for a dog.
That was our downfall; we already had a dog. We had to dream bigger!
Delightful!!!! Made me think of a holiday song the d.j. plays to death on local radio “I want a hippopotamus for Christmas.”
Oooh! A hippopotamus! I never thought of that!
A lovely story, Rachel. I’m also fond of elephants.
Several years ago, we saw a documentary which showed elephant “keepers” in Africa sleeping in a bed of hay with a newly orphaned baby elephant (in a wildlife preserve, IIRC).
This was deemed necessary because of the fragile emotional state of the baby elephant–it was feared that he might literally grieve himself to death.
I was so angry and saddened to run across the story below about one of the last “great tuskers,” who was poached in Kenya last year.
His name was ‘Satao.’ He was one of Africa’s largest elephants, thought to have been born in the late 1960s.
Here’s a link to the story in “The National Post”:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/06/15/satao-one-of-africas-largest-elephants-killed-by-poachers-for-ivory-tusks-weighing-more-than-45-kg/
BTW, my sibling and I dreamed of having a fawn for a pet, which needless to say, never materialized.
Oh, and I’ve always loved giraffes, too–who could resist those eyelashes!
😉
Thank you for the very touching post. It brings back the ‘magic’ of childhood.
UL
I’m so glad! I think I saw that doc. about the keepers sleeping with the elephants. Elephants are like people, but better!
As she gradually faded into that strange netherworld of senility, my grandmother’s favorite joke was:
Q: How do you get down from an elephant?
A: You don’t get down from an elephant, you get down from a duck.
Then she would laugh and laugh. I had forgotten about that so thanks for the memory.
That one took me a second. I’m going to blame it on being allergic to down.
I had to think about that one too. It is pretty funny once you get it!
What a funny story – I’m glad you shared it. It was a good laugh. And I loved the pictures of the two mini-poopers! I have three of my own and the amount of poop they put out is incredible.
Nancy
I think the mini-poopers are in competition with each other – anything you can poop I can poop bigger!
The other corollary is good too. Do a poop, sniff it a few minutes later and crinkle your nose at it, wondering who did such a stinky poop!
I was wondering before the end. If you think picking up on C&B was bad….
Just as adorable I’m sure. Lovely blog and enjoyed reading
Thank you!
This was great Rachel. I can imagine you as a child with all your childhood dreams of animals for pets and the logic to overcome hurdles (such as the elevator).
When I was living with my brother, the kids (all under 5) used to ride my GSD like a pony, and she’d let them!
I can’t even imagine Cricket letting herself be a pony. Though I have had dreams of taking her horseback riding sometime. Do you think she’d be able to balance on the saddle?
If you were there to hold her, I’m sure she’d try. There are special sling type harnesses you can buy even though perhaps they were not intended for this kind of usage. Maggie is definitely ‘our’ dog, rather than mine or Hubby’s. We know this as if she’s feeling unwell she comes to me, but if she’s feeling unsure, she goes to him. That stems from her ‘living in his coat’ as a puppy when we introduced her to city life and noises so that she wouldn’t be afraid or suddenly surprised. Bless her, she didn’t pee on him once.
I wanted a monkey when I was a child, one of those little ones that swing through the treetops.
I wanted to BE an elephant. 😉
Ooooh a monkey! What a great excuse to set up a jungle gym inside the house!
What a great story- with a great ending! 🙂
Thank you!
Love this we have had goats, chickens, Llama now just dogs and cat. We like elephants but would not want one in the room..:D
But Llama’s sit nicely on the couch?
Ha ha! You reminded me of my own daydreams of having a pony in the backyard when I was a child. I had worked out in intricate detail how I would ride it to school and where it would be tied up at night waiting for me to come back to be its friend the next day.
My parents actually had a pony before they had kids. My father would harness the pony and ride a cart down the street. The neighbors were not pleased.
Parents never let kids have cool animals. I smuggled kittens into my bedroom once and my mother made me return them to the cat mother. At least you and your brother never smuggled a baby elephant into your bedrooms, the poop situation may have been your undoing though, good thing you didn’t. 😉
But, but, we could have kept the elephant in the garage. Couldn’t we? So much easier to clean a concrete floor.
Oh I didn’t know about the garage! That would have been fine then, much better to deal with the poop. You could have opened up a fertilizing company with your brother based on the one baby elephant. They do call manure black gold for gardeners. 😀
Your post brought me right back to childhood and how wonderful it was to reside among big dreams and boundless imagination! Thanks for sharing your wonderful thoughts.
Thanks for going with me!
Pingback: Sunday Stuff – January 4 | Travels with Choppy
Love the dreams of a child–never, ever abandon those dreams–they give life its rich flavor! May 2015 hold all sorts of terrific pawsibilities for you. 🙂
You mean I could still get an elephant?!
Reblogged this on Abbie's Corner of the World and commented:
This reminds me of the song “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.” Have you ever wanted a large animal for a pet?
What I loved best about this post was your ability to capture the thoughts of a child. I love the image of the little girl riding her elephant to school and having it sit near her during spelling tests! Really lovely!
Wait, you mean adults don’t do that?
I too think that elephants are majestic creatures. As a child, I was a big fan of Clifford the Big Red Dog.
What would you do if Clifford came walking down your street? Wouldn’t that be awesome?
Hehehe! We love the expressions of those critters. 🙂
Thank you!
I wanted a seahorse. The imagination of a child… I have one little pooper and that is just fine.
I would have been nervous about an underwater pet. Even the little goldfish made me nervous with their mute crying from the other side of the glass.
If you & I had been childhood friends, we would have gotten along together BEAUTIFULLY! I schemed like this for a horse! Again, the problem was the poop! The grown ups, the pesky grownups….
Seriously, after all those years of diapers, what’s their problem?!
Elephant was a great choice, but did you know the small ones also like to eat the rubber lining around car windows? I didn’t … before it happened to my car parked outside our safari lodge. Upon reflection, the two mini-poopers might’ve been a better choice for Long Island.
Hmm. So if I could have figured out a way to keep the elephant away from car windows we could have worked it out?
😀
This is neat. I recalls to mind the description in “West with the Night” when she’s flying over herds of elephants in Africa with hunters, and they display not only their matriarchal nature, their all encompassing, non-gendered ‘nurturing’ nature — they learned quickly that when the planes flew overhead, all the herd would gather round the males with big tusks and screen them from the hunters. The beauty of the elephant family has much to teach we human families:) Thanks for your post.
That’s beautiful!
I just think elephants are so special. The way they group together and love and protect their young. Wonderful creatures! 🙂
I never have been on an elephant! What a wonderful idea to have one as a friend. I’m still hoping for a big cat, though 🙂
How big of a cat? Are we talking overweight house cat, or white tiger?
I could go Panther big! Male lion = too big!
I loved this post! You had me laughing out loud and reading sections to my boyfriend! What a lovely childhood memory. Thank you so much for sharing and brightening my day. P.s. personally I wanted a unicorn….I was told no too x
Parents are so mean!
I know! My suggestion was if they got me a unicorn with wings it would be much more practical and efficent to travel everywhere 🙂
Brilliant argument!
Thank you for reminding me that my dad use to warn my mother that he was going to buy her a baby elephant and put it in the backyard. I waited and waited and waited. 😉 Great post! Thanks for the memories!
No elephant, but My brother and I used to dream about owning a giraffe and we weren’t little kids, but young adults in our 20’s! And no we weren’t drunk. Ha-ha! The giraffe would live under the house with his long neck and head coming up through the floor like a periscope and the floor would have sliding panels for him to move about the house freely. I have settled for 3 furry little poopers. They are enough for me! 🙂
Can you imagine: an architecture contest for who can design the best three story house for a giraffe!
That seems to be an ongoing life lesson – figuring out what to do with the poop. 🙂
It is profound.
And cute mini poopers they are…
😀 lol I love the way you finish the article… I don’t come here often enough, but when I do I love reading your posts. Very witty and funny as always 🙂
A pile of elephant poop might be as big as one of your dogs.
Maybe I should have mentioned I was a bit more realistic in big animal desires – I wanted a horse. My mother said I could have one if I paid for it myself thinking that was as good as no since I was too young to get a job. I got a paper route and did a lot of babysitting and saved up enough to buy an unbroke horse. Which I then had to train while pretty much knowing nothing about them, but me and the horse both survived. Many years later she said if she’d known I’d actually do it she would have just said no.
Ha! Poor Mom!
Entertaining always, happy new year :))
Thank you!
Tweeted this and two other of your awesome posts 🙂
Thank you so much!
We lived in the suburbs, too, and I always wanted a cow. We created a ton of hay in the summer because the grass had to be mowed at least twice a week or it would quickly tower over one’s head. We piled up a mountain of mulch in a corner of the backyard. Wouldn’t it be great to have a cow to eat it? Who knows, we might not even have to mow the lawn anymore! My poor father had to break the news to me that there was something called “zoning laws.”
Zoning laws are so mean!
I liked your elephant wishes, Rachel. I also liked the book Danny and the Dinosaur. Did you ever read about Ferdinand the Bull? It is not like I would wish to bring home a bull but the gentleness of the animal in the book made me think of an elephant. I have read there is an elephant sanctuary, there are people who mistreat these beautiful creatures. I would hate to have anyone hurt any animal but these seem like horses, very smart and patient. I enjoyed this post very much!
I loved Ferdinand the Bull. I reread it recently, and loved it, maybe, even more than when I was a kid!
sometimes I watched this important Tablet side…
http://tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/188248/why-obama-wasnt-in-paris
have a good week… 😉
Reblogged this on Evgenia and commented:
They are very cute mini-poopers I can imagine the real true joy they give you in life!
Thank you so much!