How I Met My Mom at the SPCA....

People sometimes ask how my Mom got so lucky in finding a dog as special as I am.  But really, I am the one who got lucky. Or let’s just say, we both got lucky.

 It all started at the SPCA.  Before she became my Mom, she had been thinking about adopting a dog to train as a therapy dog for the skilled nursing facility, where she works.  One day, she decided to stop at the SPCA Adoption Center, not really expecting to find the perfect dog on the first try.  (Little did she know!)  I heard her talking outside my room with a staff member. She said that she felt kind of sorry for me, because I looked lonely—all the other dogs had roommates, but at the moment I did not.   She looked lovingly at me through the glass wall, as I sat like a lion on my pallet and looked majestic.  At first I didn’t look at her too much.   After all, I didn’t want to look uncool.   Then I heard her tell the staff member that she was looking for a particular type of dog.

           “I need a small dog,” she said.

My ears perked up. I came closer to the glass. I’m a small dog.  In fact, I could fit in a purse, though I don’t care to travel that way.  It’s just not dignified.

                “Someone really mellow,” she said.

          Why, my nickname is “Mellow Yellow”!  I meditate every day.

                “But friendly.  I need a dog that won’t be afraid of strangers.”

          My tail started to wag furiously, like a metronome.   Oh! I am soooo friendly!

Before I could tell her to come inside my room, because I was the perfect dog for her, she walked away.  “Come back!” I wanted to cry.  She walked all around the Center and looked at all of the other dogs, and then after a few minutes (which felt like forever) she came back to me.  I stared hard at her through the glass wall.  “Look into my eyes, look into my eyes,” I said, as I willed her to look at me.  She could not resist my animal magnetism.  Our eyes met.  And the world opened up in that moment.  Just like that we fell in love. 

She came inside to meet me, and I wagged my tail wildly and stood up on my hind legs to get closer to her face. She sat down on a chair and I put my front paws on her knees, as if to say, “Pick me up!”  What else could she do but pick me up?  (Mom doesn’t like to admit it, but I have her wrapped around my little paw.)  I lay in her arms like a baby.  I put my head on her shoulder and she nuzzled the top of my head.  It was the greatest feeling to know that she loved me as much as I loved her.

            And the rest is history.  Mom says that she knew I was the One for her, from the very first moment she saw me. Just like I knew, too. She only walked away because she wanted to say hi to all the other dogs, before she came in to take me home! 

            So, go the SPCA and pick up a Mom or a Dad today.  I highly recommend it! 

We come in all shapes and sizes.  And so do the humans.  Something for everyone.   

You will be best friends, just like me and my Mom.  Some things are just meant to be.

 http://www.sfspca.org/
https://donate.aspca.org/

               

Bedtime Story: A Short Guide to A Happy Life

... So I suppose the best piece of advice I could give anyone is

pretty simple: get a life. . .

Get a life in which you notice the smell of salt water

pushing itself on a breeze over the dunes,

a life in which you stop and watch

how a red-tailed hawk circles over a pond and a stand of pines.

Get a life in which you pay attention to the baby

as she scowls with concentration

when she tries to pick up a Cheerio with her thumb and first finger.

Turn off your cell phone.

Turn off your regular phone, for that matter.

Keep still.

Be present.

Get a life in which you are not alone.

Find people you love, and who love you....

Send an email.

Write a letter.

Kiss your Mom. Hug your Dad.

Get a life in which you are generous.

Look around at the azaleas making fuchsia star bursts in spring;

look at the full moon hanging silver in a black sky on a cold night.

And realize that life is glorious,

and that you have no business taking it for granted.

... I learned to live many years ago. Something really bad happened to me,

something that changed my life in ways that, if I had had a choice, it would never have been changed at all. And what I learned from it is what, today, sometimes seems to be the hardest lesson of all.

I learned to love the journey, not the destination.

I learned that this is not a dress rehearsal, and that today is the only guarantee you get.

I learned to look at all the good in the world and to try to give some of it back,

because I believed in it completely and utterly.

And I tried to do that, in part, by telling others what I had learned...

By telling them this:

Consider the lilies of the field.

Look at the fuzz on a baby's ear.

Read in the backyard with the sun on your face.

Learn to be happy.

And think of life as a terminal illness, because if you do,

you will live it with joy and passion, as it ought to be lived.

~ Anna Quindlen, A Short Guide to a Happy Life ~