Free Essay On Ladywolf—the Magical Wolf

My purpose is to introduce my audience to a most magical being—Ladywolf—who was my neighbor, soul-mate, and best friend for several years. I want people to gain an understanding of the complexity and the ebullient spirit of the wolf, her intelligence and playfulness and intuitive understanding of the way the world works. I will also be experimenting with the descriptive essay technique at the same time.
My audience will be my classmates, professor, some friends who knew Ladywolf, but probably more who did not. Thus, I will be attempting to describe a truly joyful wolf to people who may know nothing at all about wolves.

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Ladywolf is a wolf-hybrid, about 90% Alaskan Grey Timberwolf, who belongs to my close friend and neighbor Miranda. Ladywolf and I have lived in the same neighborhood for about five (YOU FILL IN THE YEARS) years now, and have become very close friends. Lady is around fourteen now so she doesn’t have too many years left, but I am hoping that she will live out those years in a peaceful and painless fashion. All of the neighbors adore her because she is so special, but I like to think that she and I share an especially powerful bond because one time, Ladywolf saved my life.
I was around six years (FILL IN THE AGE YOU WANT) old and I was down by the curb on my tricycle (OR BICYCLE). A long green car pulled up and stopped, and a tall, ugly man got out. He walked over to me and asked if I liked the circus, so of course I said, ”Yes,” because I didn’t know any better. No one from my house was watching this—it turned out that my mom was in the laundry room at the time, but Ladywolf sensed what was going on and came zooming over with her teeth bared and growled at the man. He very quickly climbed back into his car and drove away, and I hugged Ladywolf and burst into tears. I knew that she had saved me from something, but I didn’t know just what. My mother came out then and hugged Ladywolf too—she became the star of the neighborhood that day!
The three top adjectives that I would choose to describe Lady are: sensitive, exuberant, and loyal. The first dictionary definition that appears in Google for sensitive is the one that I like the best, and since it is not attributed to any other source, must be Google’s own definition:

“sen·si·tive

ˈsensədiv/
adjective
1.
quick to detect or respond to slight changes, signals, or influences.

"the new method of protein detection was more sensitive than earlier ones"

2.
(of a person or a person's behavior) having or displaying a quick and delicate appreciation of others' feelings.

"I pay tribute to the Minister for his sensitive handling of the bill"

These words certainly all describe Ladywolf, who shows her special ancient heritage by being so attuned and open to and aware of the world around her. Antonyms for sensitive are: “insusceptible, invulnerable, unexposed, with ‘Near Antonyms’ being: covered, guarded, protected, safeguarded, sheltered, shielded, warded.” (Merriam Webster). Ladywolf is somewhat guarded and protected, because she feels it is her need to protect everyone around her—and she does--but her predominant mode is sensitivity.
Lady is a magnificently beautiful creature, powerful, muscular, and strong. She weighs about 125 pounds, and could do a lot of damage to anyone who was threatening us, but rarely does anyone do that, and she is so well socialized that she can be taken into a party of 300 people, babies, and other dogs, and get along with them just fine. She is a silly creature, and can knock me down from behind and often does, but she never does any real harm.
Exuberant is another word that defines Ladywolf’s way of being in the world. Mirriam Webster defines exuberant as follows: “Very lively, happy, or energetic : filled with energy and enthusiasm, existing in large amounts : very plentiful. Joyously unrestrained and enthusiastic <exuberant praise> <an exuberant personality>. (Mirriam Wester) Lady has a fantastic amount of joyful energy, and can cheer me up anytime that I might feel blue. Her amazing range of body language and “spoken” language contributes to this. She has a way of prancing and dancing that are charming, and she can say everything from, “Cooo, Cooo,” to “a-a-a-a-r-r-r-r-ro-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o!”
Looking at antonyms for “exuberant,” I can’t see how any of them fit Lady. In Mirriam Webster, they are: “Near Antonyms: constrained, inhibited, repressed, restrained, subdued;impassive, phlegmatic, stoic (or stoical), stolid; depressed, dour, glum,morose, surly

Antonyms low-spirited, sullen” (Mirriam Webster)

There is nothing inhibited or subdued or depressed about Ladywolf. Dour and glum sound awful to me. They are the antithesis of what Ladywolf is. She is filled with joy and wit and cleverness. One time, she got inadvertently locked into a fenced yard with a tall old root cellar at the edge of it. Miranda was walking downtown without her, so Ladywolf simply climbed up over the root cellar and set herself free to join Miranda!
Lady’s loyalty to her friends is unquestionable (as is her ability to pick out friend from foe.) If Lady growls when a stranger approaches, there always turns out to be a good reason for it. All of her senses, her intuitiveness, and her instincts are very keen. Those who have lived with wild wolfpacks have extraordinary findings to share with us. Jim and Jamie Dutcher are one such couple, and here is what they had to say in a radio interview: “We really learned how family-oriented they are, how bonded they are to each other, how compassionate and caring they are.  We, as humans, already understand that elephants, great apes, whales, dolphins experience the same kind of family social bond and it’s about time that we recognize that in our north American gray wolf.” (Wright)
I feel so grateful to have had this experience of living close by a wolf and seeing her almost every day. Ladywolf has taught me a lot about love and sensitivity and strength, about intuition and paying attention and fooling around. Her sense of playfulness is hard to describe, but she would get this glint in her eye and I would know that she was up to something. Head-butting, or knocking me over, or pushing some object at me to play with. One time, Ladywolf got hold of the whole cooked ham that Miranda had prepared for dinner. Only Miranda would have been able to take it out of her mouth, but she chose not to. Instead, she sighed and said, “Oh, well, we have the turkey as well. Let Ladywolf enjoy Thanksgiving too”
And enjoy Ladywolf did. In fact I can think of hardly anything that Ladywolf doesn’t enjoy. What a blessed lesson for me, for all of us, in seizing the moment and making the most of it. I shall never forget her as long as I live.

“You howl like a wolf

Yet I hear bleating like a lamb.” (hellopoetry.com)

Works Cited

http://hellopoetry.com/words/4029/wolf/poems/
www.google.com
www.mirriamwebster.com
Wright, Samantha, Boise State Public Radio, Interview with Jim and Jamie Dutcher, Feb. 2013.
KBSX News 91.5 FM | KBSU Classical 90.3 FM
Interview with Jim and Jamie Dutcher
http://hellopoetry.com/words/4029/wolf/poems/