Find a Penny

I lasted sixteen days without a dog… sixteen whole days.  I didn’t do those days well according to a friend of mine – I can vouch for that, they were long lonely days.  Turns out I don’t do ‘alone’ very well at all.

I’ve pretty much always had a dog – sometimes more than one – they make me feel whole.  No two of those dogs have been alike but each one of them have been my favorite and each one of them has broken my heart. I know when I sign on to a pet that it’s forever and that forever is never long enough.  I know how our story will end and I sign on anyway.

So now I’m test-driving an eight or ten year old Boston named Penny.  She’s here for a foster/trial from the SPCA.  I don’t know if this makes me open hearted or foolhardy – what I do know is I can fall in love faster than you might expect.  I’m thinking this foster/trial thing might be code for ‘the rest of her life’.

Penny was picked up as a stray a couple of months ago in a town 70kms from here.  She was skinny, malnourished and scared.  She’s been living in foster care under vet supervision for the past two months. She is still too skinny but apparently much improved from the dog they picked up.  She’s a sweet little girl, I can’t imagine how she survived on the streets of Chilliwack.

I think Penny and I might be made for each other – both of us are senior girls with a muddy backstory – we are both a little crotchety and feeling our age.   She needs a friend and so do I. She is exactly who I was asking the universe for on those quiet lonely nights.

There is no way this little girl will be able to fill the gaping hole Chester left behind but she is chiseling her own spot in my heart just as all the dogs of my life have done before her.  I found a Penny …. and that is good luck.