Subsets

With a nod to mom’s inner anal retentiveness, and a wink to her being what we call “a few french fries short of a Happy Meal”, we’re going to talk about subsets today. Subsets? Yes, subsets. Obviously she was influenced by yet another grade school teacher—this time a math teacher. Subsets, which I guess new math calls “Venn Diagramming” are entire sets of things that are subsequently grouped into sub categories depending on their similarities. Mom, for whatever reason, is always noticing the subsets in our family. (Well we know the reason….she’s a bit “odd” so to speak. Doesn’t mean we don’t love her, but she’s a tad strange, y’know? Now you know why I cock my head when she speaks. I’m like, “huh”? *HOWL*).

Here’s how she subsets our family. There are 13 animals, including our foster sister. That’s the set. Now here are the subsets. There are two humans. There are 4 dogs. There are three cats. There are four horses. But there’s more. Let’s talk color subsets: there are five black and white animals. There are two blond animals. There are three gray animals (mom and dad refuse to enter that subset yet). There are two “red” animals. There are two “dun” animals (not quite blond). There is only one “bay” (brown) animal. Then there are sexes. We have boys and girls: 8 boys and 5 girls. Then there are the color variations. We have, as what is referred to in Aussie land as “tri-colored” and “merles”. We have a black tri and a red tri (one subset) and a black merle and a red merle (the other subset).

For whatever reason, our subsets are always acting in subsets, too. For instance, me ‘n Sophie, the red subset, like to bark and like to play in water. The black and white subset of dogs, Gracie and Ditto, always eat lying down. They also don’t like to play in the water much. The merle AND female subset, foster Gracie and sister Sophie, are very needy and push everyone else out of the way for attention. Mom and me and Patches are always talking—the chatty subset. And so it goes. Within sets there are multiple different subsets and mom manages to point that out, too. *Sigh* On a walk, we have dogs, girls, merles, tri’s, reds, and black/whites. Watching TV, the girl subset of Sophie, Gracie, Patches, and Mimi are ALWAYS together with mom (oh and have I mentioned that this is ALSO the “Homeless Girls Club”, a source of perpetual resentment in our house? Perhaps another blog rears its head with that line.). But the TV watchers are also cats and dogs, black/white and merles, and the rogue tortoiseshell and blond….

The point you ask? Evidently mom needs more focused activities in her life. Or maybe she should volunteer at remedial math classes. But really, I guess it’s that while we all fit into one subset or another, we’re really just one big set in the end. And you humans are too, you know. We’re all part of the bigger set and so are you. We’re all mammals. We are living, breathing organisms, creatures that feel love, pain, fear, and happiness. We get hungry (well, I do a lot and so does mom—hey there’s a subset!) And we all like being part of a pack—the bigger set. You have two legs, and your colors are different than ours. You have different hobbies (you act different), and you have opposable thumbs, we don’t. But in the end, we’re all family, even the horses, we’re one big set, and we like that. Everyone’s a subset, even of one, of the bigger set. And that’s the neat thing. We’re alike but different, even us dogs.

So, that ends our math lesson for the day. And I’ve exhausted myself being philosophical. Need to go eat now. But please share: are there subsets in your house?

Thanks for reading everyone. I hope you were bearmused today.