The Rescue Dog Affect…

Is worth their weight in gold.

Many, many school years ago I made a deal with my Son. If you make Honor Roll, you may adopt and rescue a dog. Well, he made it and we were off to the kennels within a 50 mile radious in Virginia, D.C. and Maryland. We continued to look high and low, near and   far. I was proud that my Son actually took the experience seriously, wanting to find the perfect fit.

One day we were visiting with family at American University in Washington, D.C. for a field hockey game. It was a beautiful fall day and we decided to have lunch in Georgetown after the game. Since there are several ways out of D.C. back to Maryland we were headed out on New York Avenue. It just so happens, on New York Avenue sits The Washington Humane Society, as we drove by we noticed they were still open and stopped in.

As we walked in, we got our normal “hi’s” and “hello’s”, signed in and proceeded to walk back to where the dogs were located. The ruckus began immediately when we opened the door, if you have ever been to a kennel, you know exactly what I am referring to. As we passed every single kennel, read every story we continued down the hall in anticipation. Was today we found our dog? And there sat Bentley, not barking, not getting up just sitting there looking at us with this expression on his canine face…What took you two so long? We had no idea about his breed[Giant Schnauzer], Jetty was his kennel name which had the first 4 letters of my last name[Majett] and he was super cool. This was our DOG!!!!

Jetty was his name, being a stay was his game. Jetty was found walking the streets of D.C., brought to The Washington Humane Society during the late rainy spring, adopted and then brought back to The Washington Humane Society again. Can you imagine our surprise that he was found, adopted and returned?! And now we wanted him immediately. However, the process would take a few weeks of a background check of us and WHS approval. In the background process they determined that the house we were living in belonged to my Mother, so we needed her permission. Yikes, I forget to mention this to my Mother because we were nervous she wouldn’t want us to have a dog in her big, beautiful house.  But as God would have it, she immediately gave us of her blessing.

Six years later, we are blessed beyond belief with our decision. I can’t thank my Mother enough for giving us permission, I am so grateful for the path we took that day because family was in town and I can’t thank God enough for these little blessings that end up being so major. We obviously changed Jetty’s name to Sir Bentley Schnauzer. Bentley has protected us far beyond words can imagine or describe. He is my fitness running buddy, my protector and friend .

God has created so many incredible blessings in animals. We must appreciate and care for the gifts He gives us. It’s a blessing to be given an animal to care for, love and nourish. However, owning an animal is not for everyone. Recognizing the fact that you shouldn’t or can’t own an animal is so important. To the person who let Bentley get away, along with the person who adopted Bentley and returned him gave us one of the biggest blessings of our lives-thank you. And most importantly, Thank you God!!!

 

 

Please heed my warning…


Cherish every moment you have at this very minute with your children. Learn and don’t repeat the bad times, get out as much as you can from those horrible moments. Talk up and encourage the loving, nice times and reminisce often on the good things. Do this so you know how to be truly grateful and know when to celebrate your accomplishments and learn from your mistakes.

Never take your children for granted. Looking back with no regrets at the life you decided to have with your child or children is more rewarding than any job, any promotion or amount of money this world can give you.

Not too long ago my Son graduated from Kindergarten, then High School and just recently I went to Lackland Air Force Base to watch him graduate from Basic Military Training. Just so you know, there is nothing BASIC about BMT, in fact, it broke him and built him back up. My Son is not the Son I said good-bye to months before he entered his agreement to The United States Air Force. I am beyond proud of him and his recent accomplishments. And just because he is different, it’s a good different.

However, I am sitting here wondering where did all the time go. I mean, I read about this sort of thing and talked with my Mother about it but to actually go through it is different and a bit surreal. Real hard is more like it. The last 20 years flew by. He is a boy becoming a man at high speed. Not sure if he or I are ready for this but it’s happening whether we like it or not.

The good news is I planted seeds in him so long ago I was not worried or concerned. And I will continue to plant good seeds in him. We should, as a society, plant good seeds in all the children of this world those especially close to us.

So please remember, the amount of quality time we chose to spend with our children while they are small and impressionable is so very important. It’s the most important job we have to fulfill. Like God, He is always with us. Our children need to know that no matter what we will love them. Now that doesn’t mean we have to agree with their life choices but we must love them like God loves us…without conditions. Even when we sin, God loves us. Even on our worse day, God loves us.

Have an awesome day!