Future cj,
When it came to the First Annual Dancing Goat FolkFest, saying yes to your goats led to a no to your community; love was at the root of both.
Pariso Roots is a community of perspectives beyond just yours, human and nonhuman. As steward, you don't have all the insight, and you're not expected to. For this, you needed to ask the goats, but they had been sharing all along.
Ari is now a protective mom, not the bold kid full of curiosity from the Spring Fling. Your doelings Ebo, Cacia, and Chick-Chick are still integrating into Pariso Roots; public work hasn't been a thought; they still spook at new things and people, often seeking reassurance with guests.
Yet even if they were sharing, you didn't even know anything to tell them about the event. This was the first Dancing Goat Festival and it felt better to go this year and deepen your own intel. Taking your stewardship seriously, you considered everything in order to fully experience what the goats would; down to the thin-soled shoes you wore intentionally to experience the same ground trembles a goat would. ASD provides a sensory capacity to access the experience of your animals, use it.
Having been celebrated for years for soloing innumerable milestones, including raising your herd primarily single-handedly, it became your default, including how you'd bring them to the festival...alone. Hell, the prior times Ari went into public, you not only handled her by yourself but the poop she left behind in the shotgun seat of your Ford Focus...and after each time, you were exhausted. Exhausting yourself alone isn't proving anything, it's just making your work unsustainable in the long-term. Admitting that keeping one (or possibly multiple) members of the herd happy and safe in public is hard...but calling in your people for help isn't a failure but self-love.
When you walked up Saturday morning as a steward, instead of a goat handler; instead of just seeing threats, you also saw opportunity. You saw two paths: the solitary status quo and what could be done if you called in the tribe. You, alone, may be able to "clear the bar" and show up with Ari in a cute costume. You also felt a version where your goats show up in a way that doesn't just make them "look cute" or shows them off to feed your ego, but instead in a way that honors their role in the Pariso Roots community by leaning on the roots of that community, your family. By simply imagining the possibilities of what could make this worth everyone's while... a family booth, and the ingredients were all around you. Not only would it give the goats a home base to establish while there, we could highlight the gifts of your family who helps make it happen...uplifting their gifts as well. The cousin that already interacts with them paints, your aunt does shirtcraft...your sister crocheting.... how can the tall ask of the goats contribute back to your community beyond just meet-and-greet at a folk art festival...that's how.
You started Pariso Roots alone, but limited by your skills alone, it's reached a plateau where you were surviving but not continuing towards your full potential. The Dancing Goat FolkFest showed you what's possible when love leads the decision, even when that decision disappoints. Even when the loving choice is a no, trust it, because the no is often where the better vision lives.
In Solidarity,
Post-First Annual Dancing Goat Folkfest cj