Thankful for Dogs!

Gabe and Rose came to us a year ago. They were sweet, tired, and looking for safety. We thought they were lost, but maybe they found us for a reason.

These rowdy, jumpy, happy, joyous beasts needed a home. We needed them. We needed to heal from great losses that made the holiday spirit a struggle. We needed a focus, a project, a new relationship, a new struggle, a new exercise in faith and joy.

We have been to the vet a few times. We have been up many nights! We have faced COVID-19 stress and grief. We have learned about patience in a whole new way! We have also laughed, giggled, planned, hoped, worked, and moved through life with an energy fed by two boisterous beasts.

They know many words now. They have moments of calm. We have moments of just enjoying the presence of their sweet spirits.

The holidays are less painful because Gabe and Rose remind us to live in the now of the moment. The chronic trauma of this year is valiantly battled and silenced by the play of puppies and the purrs of kitties. Somehow the world isn’t so bad.

As children we found my mother’s “Baby Book” chronicling the first five years of life. We looked at some of the days corresponding to major historical events. When I looked up the day of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, I didn’t understand why there wasn’t more written. My grandmother wrote about the world feeling crazy and then seemed to shift focus back to mom and her accomplishments. I understand now. When the world feels crazy and overwhelming, it is our day-to-day focus on the business of living and the projects of loving that calm us and allow us to breathe and move through the chaos.

Two Red-nose Pit-bulls found us. We didn’t turn away. And they have made a difference. We thought we were saving them. Now we know better.