#wombatwednesday is a thing

I kid you not – #wombatwednesday is a thing on Twitter that I just discovered and am over the moon! There are very, VERY few things that amuse me on Twitter, especially the past year, but every once in a while a find a rare gold nugget that opens up a whole new world. Thanks to #lockdown2020 I have had the time to do a bit more deep diving in the internet ocean, and that’s how I stumbled on the the life and times of two animals that have stolen my heart – wombats and quokkas. The former shits cubes, and the latter loves selfies. What could possibly go wrong here?

Before I proceed, please watch the following videos

If only I could be guaranteed a wombat, a koala, and a quokka a day 24/7/365 together with the perfect job, I would pack my bags and move to Australia immediately! The “great ball of muscle” aka the wombat is by no means elegant, but that is what makes it so adorably appealing. I suppose it touches a raw nerve of childhood memories for me, with my first love for Australian marsupials – the koala. I used to have a room full of koalas, the first one having been given to me as a four-year-old child in Kenya. I loved that little koala, even though it wasn’t even soft and cuddly, but it was so special and somehow reflected my love for the animals that surrounded me. When one of his eyes fell out, a family friend offered to send it to the toy hospital in London (back in 1973 there was was only one, now there are several toy hospitals to choose from in London!), a concept so bizarre to my parents, that they accepted the offer and went along.

That little koala in Kenya travelled with me from Kenya to Mexico but somehow never made its way to Manila in 1982. Nevertheless, it led to more koalas along the way, and the more potbellied they were the better. My father started bringing me koalas from every trip he made, and somehow, each time I went in for surgery I ended up with a new koala. As with all things pertaining to childhood, you eventually leave them behind and outgrow them.

Stuffed koalas lost their appeal to me, especially when I took more interest in the real ones, along with kangaroos. Now, well into my, ehem… middle age, I have entered the more mature world of wombats, simply because of their additional spiritual dimension in addition to their unsexy appeal. Remember what I wrote in the last blog about my dream house? What I forgot to include was the list of animals I wanted living alongside: a Maine Coon, a Welsh Corgi, a Continental Giant rabbit, a donkey and a wombat. It is indeed a motley crew, at first glance all misfits, but in retrospect, except for the donkey they are all the same size.

Why am I so drawn to this muscular fur ball? First of all, the wombat is a symbol for stability, self-confidence, security, reliability, family, the unseen and secrecy. It is nocturnal and thrives in the comforts of home, it’s burrow being the sacred space to build a world in. The wombat will guard and defend its sacred space by any means, and will ward off threats by remaining in the shadows. This speaks to me all levels, and as I recently learned, the wombat will manifest itself in dreams if you are feeling threatened, homesick or hungry. Yes, I have been dreaming of wombats lately… more on this in the next blog.

Let me leave you with this adorable video that somehow merges my past and present:

Happy Wombat Wednesday folks!