Animals

So, I have this urge, this yearning to be surrounded by animals. When I moved to college, the hardest part was leaving my dear Cherri dog. I did take my fish with me. When Alann and I got married, well even before that, we talked about whether or not I could bring Cherri out to live at the house with us. We decided that it would be best if we didn’t, mostly because we had a 4’ chain link fence, and I just pictured her jumping it and being gone. She used to try to jump the 6’ block wall at my mom’s house. So we decided that no, we shouldn’t bring her out. Then we tried to figure out if we wanted an animal. He kind of wanted a cat, I definitely wanted a dog. We went to the Humane Society, “just to look”, about 2 weeks after we were married. There we saw Tanner, and he was such a dear sweet little thing, I just couldn’t imagine leaving him there. We signed up to adopt him that second. (They told us he was 3-4 months old, and he weighed about 20 lbs. We later found out he was only 8 weeks old. He now weighs about 100 lbs.) Would I have adopted him even knowing his present size? Yes, probably. He is such a sweet thing. He is the epitome of a good dog. So then I had to go to Iowa for the summer. We decided to get Tanner a friend, because he was very much my baby, he went with me to school and was with me or someone 90% of the time. He would be lonely. So we got Nikki. Then just this last October we got Jersey, the kitty. And even though I am surrounded by animals, I can’t help wanting more. I want chickens, for my garden and for the eggs. That is about the end of my longings at the moment. But I can’t help wanting new puppies every time I see them.
I have always wondered where I picked this love of animals up. Surely, growing up surrounded by them was part of it. I just learned where most of it came from: my mother. Her dog was just put down last week. He was very old and had lost control of his muscles. He was old when we got him years ago, we never expected him to last so long. My mom kept saying “no, I won’t get a puppy. I don’t have time” etc etc. When I got to work this morning, there was an email from my mom. She got not one puppy, but two. Two 5-month old Boxers, Bella and Eli (in the picture). But her sentiment matches mine exactly. She said in her email: “the current canine(s) in one's life never replaces their predecessor(s), but create their own new special places in our hearts.” Even as I write this, my eyes fill with tears thinking about all the puppies who have grown up and gone before me, and all the ones that will fill my life with joy in this life, and I am so grateful that the Lord saw fit to create such marvelous creatures for us.