Rebecca and her animal farm. It does not always have to be dead serious.
Rebecca is fond of people. But did you know she's also fond of animals? It has long been known by fans of RSJ.
At a certain point in time (I'm not sure when that was exactly) Rebecca must have had some 32 chickens, a dog called Misty, a rabbit called Nibbles, and a marmot called Ferry. From another source of information (maybe not the same time) yet another dog was added to the list (name unknown), and also 2 cats, a goat, a rodent called Jerry, and a parakeet.
By the way we also know Rebecca as someone who loves horseback riding. Her book 40 Days With God has a nice photo of her at age 6, riding on a beautiful small white horse. I think the Smallbones have a horse, or had one, maybe in Australia.
When we dig a little deeper, we find, for instance, an interviewer from Christian Music Lighthouse asking Rebecca the incredibly smart question "what tree she would be" (tree? Yes, tree) if she could choose between any kind of tree. Rebecca answered on that one that it then would have to be a Gum tree, because "Koalas love them". No doubt, given the occasion, a Koala or two would be given a home at Rebecca's as well.
Many fans have wished ever since to be a dog, rabbit, chicken, horse or Koala, if that would allow us to be introduced into the everyday life of Rebecca.
More recently, on Monday, May 12, 2008, we have also been updated by Rebecca herself in a blog post on MySpace titled Check Your Mooing. We how much Rebecca lives MOOING ... with cows. Yes: cows would find a home with her too. It is never too late to get surprised. Quote:
"Often I pedal by one particular field filled with cows - it's totally lovely in Tennessee this time of year - everything is so green and beautiful in their little landscape of pasture. I have developed a little tradition with this particular friendly band of cows of 'mooing' at them as I pedal by. I crack myself up every time I do this and they just calmly stare back at me - I'm sure they are silently thinking that I have totally lost my mind! When I hit this spot on my ride, I kind of check that no one is around when I'm pedaling by - so no one can hear me as I'm 'mooing. On my last trip by I topped the brow of the hill to find three people in the midst of the field staring back at me - smiling - and apparently entertained by the strange sounds they'd just heard!"
Now let us first put a few things straight here. We have been given some remarkable psychological insights on the RSJ personality. Did you notice she said: "band of cows"? Not that we ought to be extremely surprised that it comes down to a musical experience again, but ... well, it could have been more like just cows and less music. But no, there's always music in the air. I think it is safe to assume that all the involved animals strike a chord with Rebecca.
On the other hand there's also some interesting cow psychology here. What these creatures were doing, was: "just calmly stare back at" Rebecca. While any other reasonable animal, and any reasonable human being as well, would rather fly off the handle when given the occasion to meet Rebecca on bike mooing, these creatures remain modest. No dancing like David around the tabernacle, no going crazy, no "Hey Rebecca, mooing for joy like usual? Godspeed!" - nothing of the kind. They might indeed be sitting there "silently thinking" that Rebecca has totally lost her mind. Although, of course, they could also have been thinking, like Emmett in Hyacinth Bucket: "She'll sing at me!". But, unlike Emmett, that would not be a cry of fear, but of pure joy.
And there's also the three people psychology here - those who were watching from the midst of the field. They too don't exactly act as any normal observer would do: no dancing like David around the tabernacle, no going crazy etc. On the other hand: at least they're not just staring back. (If they would, they should have been sent to jail immediately if you ask me). From my point of view, these people are lucky dogs. Some people really have all the luck. Being three people in a field close to Rebecca topping the brow of a hill mooing sounds to me like the definition of "all the luck", won't you think?
But I'm getting my wires crossed - our subject was Rebecca's animals. If cows would be added to the list too, we are slowly but steadily approaching the idea of what would looks like a real zoo, or at least an animal farm. And why not? It might be a good idea for us, fans of Rebecca, to put our money together and buy her a zoo. Of course, on the condition that she promises to make one more CD for every animal added to the zoo.
But who would take care of the zoo? There is a lot of hard work in a zoo I guess.
But wait a minute - there are more people around who are fond of animals. They could assist. Some of them are to be found amidst the circle of close friends of Rebecca. I'm thinking of Vicky Beeching for instance.
Vicky is a singer too as you know (I don't know about mooing), and she has something with animals too.
Take this picture. Vicky posted it on her old weblog a while ago (it has now gone I think - but I still had a copy of this important piece of evidence). Vicky had posted a comment on it, and some nice thought about some things we could learn from it - I'll ignore that now, because it was not really the spiritual lesson that was catching my attention (although it should probably have been done). But the thought that I found quite revealing - again in terms of psychology - was about how she was trying to get away with what she was doing here.
The story went as follows:
"Today I was looking round a second-hand store in a very small town in Texas... and found they were selling rather ferocious looking stuffed animals! I felt like I had to try and look as ferocious and fierce as the stuffed dog... so this is my best 'mean, brave and not scared of anything face'!!".
Now wait a minute. To me it looks like Vicky was rather tactically avoiding the obvious point here. Look at the picture again. It does not conceal it, the writing is on the wall - literally. You can always click on the image for a slightly version if you cannot read it clearly, but what I am clearly reading is this:
"Please do not touch mounts!"
Mounts, that's frames, skeletons, structures, stuffed specimen. Now look again, what does Vicky hold so firmly in her hands? Does it look like a stuffed specimen or does it? You know, I think we are seeing the real Vicky here. She's really a bit of a naughty girl. This must be the deeper message she (unconsciously?) wanted to communicate here. She's kind of saying: "Don't look at the walls - look at me", but then - no, I would rather think she's saying something like this: "If you always only do what people want you to do, if you never head for something special, or risky, you end up with nothing in your hands". And there's more to it: isn't she clearly mooing here - or something of that kind? Vicky and Rebecca, they are hand in glove: one moos the brow of[f] the hills, Vicky moos (or growls?) the mount of[f] the table. Whatever we make of it, the obvious thing is that both are fond of animals and mooing. And almost all species seem to fit for their list.
Although, I must say, I don't think Bec is really as naughty as Vic here - unless someone comes up with irrefutable proof of Rebecca grinding her teeth while holding up stuffed specimen in a shop with clear writing on the wall forbidding exactly that.
Anyway. I guess we can conclude for now that all evidence altogether contributes to what we can now take for absolutely certain: Rebecca's pets wishlist is completely open-ended. And while Rebecca really is an extremely friendly person, also or even more towards human beings, there is always hope for every human being to somehow join the wishlist too. And if you succeed, you can already enjoy in the expectation of - as we have seen - being mooed at just as well, like these 3 lucky dogs in the field. And those 3 men, let me repeat that one very clearly, they keep occupying my mind. Really, why do some people have all the luck?
Footnote
Oh and just one more thing. Did you hear about the strange case of Rebecca appearing on stage with a dog? I found following 3 pieces that seem to support the rumours:
It could be an Australian Cattle Dog or an Australian Terrier or so. They both match well with the stage dog
except for their legs, which look thin on the former photos - but illumination experts would probably confirm this to be a side effect of the strong lights.
Anyway, for those who have the occasion to visit RSJ concerts: please try to make some more photos of both sweeties (the doggie, and Rebecca too of course). Send them to me please, so I can add it here as additional evidence.
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