I am reminded daily of how much we need animals in our lives and how much they need us. We are life to them so many times. Food, shelter, attention. Donkeys are what I call middle animals, somewhere between dogs and cats. They aren’t as distant and independent as cats, or as dependent and connected as dogs. But they need us. Every morning, they come to us, lean against us, press against us, smelling us, feeling us, reading our moods. And then, for the briefest of time, it is their turn. To be talked to, brushed, touched. I am learning to listen to them. I don’t tell them what they are thinking, they show me. This is something Maria knows intuitively.