Yesterday, the most recent issue of the New Yorker arrived in the mail. Most recent to us is December 26th since New York is so far from Alaska. The magazine comes by dog sled. And recent storms have slowed down the mail runs.

The way we do it is that I decide if the issue is “Mine” or “His,” his being for Pete. I get the issues that have memoirs and Pete gets the ones that have political articles. This works well for us – we never argue over a given issue.

The December 26th issue, the cartoon issue, was clearly mine. I opened it up and noticed that under Comics was a strip entitled “Choosing Horses” by Lisa Hanawalt. I opened to page 26 and immediately was taken by Hanawalt’s observations about having opted to “have” horses instead of children.

I never before had a comic strip resonate with me the way this one did. Her observations about having decided to put her energies in living a horsey lifestyle completely resonate with mind. She writes I too “love children but maybe I don’t need my own. I’m satisfied by interacting with my friend’s kids (and trying to convert them into horse lovers.” Beneath the caption is a child brushing a pony. The kid says, “I brush da pony.” The author says to her “Now you need to ask your dad for riding lessons.” A cute pony, which the child is brushing is in the foreground, and a grumpy father, saying “hey,” is in the background.

This panel brings back memories of my giving lessons to kids on my horses.

Hanawalt also deals with the inevitability of loss. After writing about the death of a friend’s horse, she writes, “While caring for a horse is different from raising a child, horses can fill up your life in similar ways, if you let them. Their loss leaves a big hole.” A few panels later, she writes, “I joke about choosing animals instead of babies, but how will it feel in a few years, when they die. She then, in a bubble, speaks to her horse and dog, saying, “I expect you guys to break the record for the world’s oldest horse and dog and also possibly be the first horse and dog to live forever, okay?”

This panel brings back memories of my having the same conversations with all our animals, horses and dogs alike, most recently Tinni (the horse) and Ranger (the goat).

In the final combined two panels, Hanawalt writes, “I often worry about preventing sadness, but as long as I have something to love and nurture I can be happy.” Her side-by-side illustrations are of a mother feeding a child in a highchair and a horse owner feeding a horse in a high chair.

What for Hanawalt, as well as myself, it comes down to is this – women are wired to nurture – it does not matter if it’s a horse or a child. I am siding with Hanwalt in that I’ll take the horse over the child any day.

Next: 12. 1/12/23: Coming Full Circle