Endings as Beginnings

We first met Moree on the day my husband’s (then boyfriend) dog of 15 years had died. Gollie had lived a long life and died in his sleep. I found him that morning and telling C was one of the hardest things I have ever done.
We took Gollie to the Humane Society to be cremated. While we were making arrangements, an older woman brought in this beautiful border collie looking dog. He turned out to be an Australian Shepherd and she was surrendering him because, at 9 months old, he was too much work. He was cute and friendly, but I didn’t think much more about it.
On the way home, C said to me. “You know, I’ve always wanted my next dog to be a border collie or similar. Can we call on that dog we saw when we get home?” There was no way I was going to say no, and later that day we were back at the Humane Society, meeting Moree and deciding that yes, he would be ours.
It took a little while before we could bring him home. We had to make some repairs to the fence and clean up the yard.
Once he was in our lives, he brought instant joy.

Moree died less than 2 weeks before Thanksgiving. I told C I wanted to wait until after the holidays to get another dog. I lasted less than a week. I will continue to argue that it wasn’t just for me, but for our other dog, Smokey, who seemed lost without a friend. But still, less than a week as a one dog household.
We once again went to the Humane Society (though now we’re in a different state). And there was June, a little 6 month old beagle, who had been surrendered that day, because she was too much work.
It was end of day and they didn’t want to put a puppy in a visiting room that hadn’t been sterilized, so we had our meeting with her in an empty kennel. As we sat there talking to her, trying to catch her attention, lots of people walked by. Many of them asked if we were going to take her. The answer was yes.
We also had to wait a few days for her. She needed to be spayed. When we did get to bring her home, she curled up on my lap and slept for much of the drive.
Once she was in our home, she instantly started tormenting Smokey, which was exactly what he needed.