QOD: What would you prefer to be reincarnated as?

While I don’t believe in reincarnation, if it turns out I’m wrong, I think I’d like to come back as my own descendant, hoping that my style of childrearing had continued through the generations. Let’s face it, I’d love to be my own kid…

If my next incarnation must be an animal? To explore this, I took an Animal Personality Test* and discovered I would make a good zebra, or a good lion, or a good tiger. Overall, I think the zebra has the most appeal. This might only be age talking, as my sign is Leo and I’ve always felt comfortable as a big cat, although I’ve certainly enjoyed being a good bitch as well. Tigers are beautiful, and so lovely that I was once tempted to join a cage of them at the zoo. I scrambled over the chain link fence and was nearly through the bars when my father wondered why the big Bengal suddenly got an interested gleam in his eye and got up to pad toward something. Daddy caught me a second before the tiger did. Sure, I was only three, and Dad meant well, but nobody can PROVE that the tiger meant me any harm at all. Sure, a lion mauled a kid a month earlier, but this was a TIGER. Anyway, tigers are disappearing because men want to build apartments and shopping malls, so it might be an iffy proposition coming back as one.

My husband disagreed with some of my answers on the Animal Personality Test, and his view of me put me into the category of penguin, gorilla, or vulture. Thanks a lot, bubba. I’ll take the penguin, with the guarantee of a zoo in a pleasant clime. I’m going to rethink my marital relationship as well. Vulture? Gorilla? Just because I like to spend his money and have my own way all the time is no reason to toss me into THAT pot.

To continue on the zebra idea, think how cool it would be to look superficially like everybody else, but to be truly unique. Did you know that zebras are the only herbivores who use their teeth if someone is nasty? A well-placed kick can also shatter a lion’s jaw. Leave me alone and I’m quite peaceable. Annoy me and regret it. Plus, just think of those wide open spaces coupled with the ability to storm along in a flurry of hooves. All that, without a rider on your back (which explains why I don’t want to be a horse). Zebras also graze in mixed herds, so if I got tired of chatting with the other zebras, I could also converse with sheep, deer, horses, giraffes, whatever. An educational and entertaining life. I like the advice the Test gives to zebras as well: “The road to success is always under construction.”

*”The Animal in You” by Roy Feinson