For the dog that changed everything - My Joy


At the beginning of our journey together a friend of mine found an article and shared it with me. At the time I was very grateful for a few words encouragement and the simple reminder to be positive because Joy was quite the handful. I still keep the newspaper clipping on my  refrigerator. 

I had no idea of the long road we had ahead. I knew when I met her she was something special. But what I underestimated was how much she would teach me. 







I had decided somewhere along the way that I was going to help Joy. For a little while I thought that was exactly what I was doing, helping. At some point it became obvious that as much as I was giving her a roof over her head and exposure to the world that she found so scary - she was teaching me so much more; patience, understanding, compassion, acceptance.


I've been sitting on her adoption announcement for a few months now because we had to make sure it was really going to stick. I have this weird superstition when it comes to dogs in homes that if you make a huge deal out of it too soon something isn't going to go well. So I stayed quiet a lot longer than I normally do. 

As a foster you meet the animal at a time when they've recently lost everything or have been through a series of events that you are unaware of - they may have been bad, they may have been good - none of us really know. Sometimes I feel like you are acting as a halfway house for wayward animals. They aren't badly behaved, there is nothing wrong with them - they just need a little guidance and support to get them back on track. When you foster, you see and love the animal in a way that you're not sure everyone can see yet, but you can see their potential. You only hope that someone comes along and sees them the same way you do. Everyday when Joy would do something that completely surprised me I always exclaimed "THIS is what I wish people could see in her!" She has a spirit and a gratitude that is very hard to explain. Joy doesn't love everyone and she certainly had her issues but when you earn that trust from her - her bond to you is magical. It's different from any other animal I've ever met.



There was always that part of me that never felt like she was my own. Not that I love her any less but there was always a feeling that I couldn't give her everything she needed. I could only help her for so long in her recovery and that was often very apparent. Of course, I would have kept her in my care as long as she needed but at the end of the day I just knew that there was someone who could see passed her issues and love her the way I did - and hopefully even more. 

I can't exactly tell you the chain of events that led to her happy home. All I can really recall is that I was an emotional nutball. I was anxious and nervous and worried. I doubted everything and everyone who tried to talk about her - because really, no one knew her like I did! But I had to let go and I had to trust in the process. 

Before I knew it the stars had aligned and Catalina walked through the doors of the pet adoption center. Joy was home. Her name is now Lola. But I'll always know her as my little Joy. 



For those of you who didn't follow our journey together you can follow this link for old posts about Joy. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

sour dough starter.

Heatwaves in our little 400ish sq ft dwelling were the worst. It was nearly impossible to keep it cool. The window AC unit and fans worked overtime and that just barely kept it bearable. The goal was just to make it through the hottest parts of the day - until the sun broke and started to set, there would be a slight late afternoon breeze - the cool, stillness of the night would be on it's way soon. Relief...  I loved our little 400ish sq ft dwelling more than humanly possible. And even though there were bees living in the wall and heatwaves felt like a literal sauna, I loved it. What I didn't like about it was cooking at any capacity when the weather was too hot. Because of it's size, the thought of turning on the stove or oven would have been literal torture. Pre-heating the tiny oven would immediately increase the inside temperature by a factual 1,000 degrees...  Summer of 2020. We were experiencing a global pandemic and a heatwave. Temps were well over 100 and quarantin...
Read more

LA, a love letter.

There are 3 views of the city that are my absolute favorite.  The first is on a corner across from LA Historic Park off of Spring Street. It also happens to be outside of our favorite place to drink beer on Friday nights. But the view of the Gold Line stop and the cityscape in the background is the best. It's just far enough away from DTLA to hear the slight hum of the city but close enough to feel the energy of late night commuters coming and going.  The second view is in the neighborhood behind Kenneth Hahn State Park. It's a view I didn't know existed until a few years ago but even when it's a little hazy, it never disappoints. On a clear day you can see the entirety of all the neighborhoods I love, you can see the lights from Dodger Stadium all the way to fireworks after events at the Rosebowl. You can hear the echo of children playing and softer booms from fireworks... The third view is a specific part of the 10 freeway. When you are driving east on the 10 through ...
Read more

Separation

Image
 After you send in a letter of resignation to a place of work, the word separation gets used a lot.  A separation of you and the place of business.   I guess to appropriately sum it up, that is the best way to describe it. I tried to figure out a more fitting word but couldn't seem to find one. In my particular scenario, it feels like an amicable break-up. A divorce of some sort because you both realize that your relationship was no longer serving you. You've grown, they've grown, and unfortunately that growth was apart from one another.  I think if we've all experienced anything over the last few years, one thing that a lot of people have done is a reprioritization of life things. The time we spend and who that time with spent is more important. If I've learned anything about myself recently, it's that I definitely did not have things prioritized in a way that was healthiest for me.  So, that's what I'm doing. Reprioritizing.  Reprioritizing and choos...
Read more