My Rescue Dog, Joaquin, Celebrates His Gotcha Day!

Today, I’m #grateful for our #rescuedog, Joaquin. Today is his gotcha day (aka his adoptive birthday). He’s been with us two full years now, bringing joy and laughter at every turn. Here’s his #story:

Home. It's a concept not all dogs, rescue dogs especially, recognize. So many of them have been abandoned, abused, left behind that they become suspicious of the concept. For far too many of them, home is a pipe dream, a fantasy, a pot at the end of a rainbow that may never materialize.

For our Joaquin, home disappeared the day his owner died. He found himself alone in a kennel at the Palm Springs Animal Shelter. All around him were unfamiliar noises--the barking of numerous and strange dogs, humans talking, humans gawking. How did I get here? he must have wondered. He tried to escape and his attempts were viewed as comical by volunteers and staff. "Look at that little guy! He can climb right up those wire cage walls!"

I heard about Joaquin and his feats, but I only found his searching for an escape route sad. He was looking for home, I thought.

And then I saw him, a little man with the most incredible green eyes. He was a chihuahua mix, as so many of the shelter residents were. But it wasn't only his eyes that set him apart. Perhaps it was stress from losing his home, perhaps it was genetic, but Joaquin had almost no fur. His dark skin hid the fact. He was still unquestionably beautiful.

For me, a volunteer at the shelter, it was love at first sight. From the moment I locked my own green eyes with his incredible ones, I was a goner. We already had another shelter dog at home, a very good boy called Kodi, and we weren't looking to add another.

But, as the weeks went by (and Joaquin remained unadopted), I fell more and more in love. I'd get to my dog-walking shift early, so I could make sure I would be the one to walk him. He seemed to know me, and would look up at me from time to time as we walked. He followed me around during playgroup in the yard, ignoring the other dogs and pleading with me to pick him up.

And then Thanksgiving weekend arrived. I got to the shelter early, as usual, just so I could be sure to have my time with Joaquin. But this time, his kennel was empty. He was gone! I looked to the board where all the dogs were listed and saw that he was being fostered for the holiday weekend. I despaired. Anyone fostering this beautiful little boy with the big personality would surely keep him.

I'd lost him. 

I checked the board again and saw that the foster was a staff member at the shelter. I went right home and emailed her, saying I'd be happy to foster Joaquin if she had too much on her hands. She came back quickly with an email thanking me for taking him; she'd even deliver him to my house.

Joaquin has been a part of our family, our pack, ever since that day. His big brother, Kodi, got used to him in stages, but he too gradually fell in love with what he initially saw as a little interloper in his kingdom.

Now, we don't know what we'd do without Joaquin (or Kodi!). Rescue is truly the best breed. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love this holiday. It's not really because of its historical significance, which can sometimes be contentious, but because of its message about being thankful for all we have.

This past year, I began a daily practice of posting to social media one thing I'm grateful for each day. The result of that has been surprising--I discovered the true abundance in my life of things I'm thankful for. The list is truly endless!

Also, like the quote above, making a daily practice of gratitude has opened my heart even more to the many gifts this life holds and how they permeate everything.

Thanks today especially to all of the people who take the time to read this blog and to be in touch with me, whether it's through here, through social media, e-mail, or even (gasp!) in person, I so appreciate the love and kindness we share...today and every day.

Thanksgiving Gratitude

My Facebook friend (and real-life friend of—gulp—about 40 years) Donna Anderson challenged people to post something about what they’re grateful for as we countdown to Thanksgiving. Below are my posts, collected here on this Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 2015.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates. May your day be filled with family, friends, love, good food, and continued blessings!

NOVEMBER 20

My friend Donna Anderson is asking people to post things they're thankful for and, without trying, this morning I realized I really had something to post. I was up early, as usual, sitting alone in front of the fireplace with my coffee and reading. I thought of how lucky I am to have two very special beings only a few feet away, really, slumbering in a warm bed. To those two, I matter most in the world and the feeling is mutual. I am thankful for my husband, Bruce, and my dog, Lily.


NOVEMBER 21

Continuing my countdown to Thanksgiving with what I'm thankful for: Today I'm grateful for my son, Nicholas and his husband, Tarik. Nicholas has been the light of my life and one of my most treasured blessings for the last 31 years. He is a constant source of joy and love and I cannot imagine life without him. When he married Tarik six years ago, that love and joy only multiplied. Very little makes me happier than knowing my son made such a good marriage and increased the love in our family exponentially.

NOVEMBER 22

Continuing with my Thanksgiving countdown posts about what I'm grateful for. Today, I'm remembering my mom, who passed away in 2007 from cancer. I was watching a TV show last night where one of the characters, a young woman, had had a fight with her mother and wasn't speaking to her. Later on in the show, something significant happened and she said, "I need to talk to--" and then she couldn't finish because she realized she wasn't speaking to her mom. I was immediately in tears, not for the character, but for that realization. In good times or bad, for much of my life, one of the first things I always thought to do was tell my mother. She always listened, always cared, and always made me feel like my news was the most important thing in the world to her. Losing that has left a hole in my life that I can't heal, nor would I want to. I'm grateful today for having my mother as long as I did...and the joy, memories, love, and lessons that she imparted that will stay with me always.

NOVEMBER 23

Continuing with my Thanksgiving countdown posts about what I'm grateful for. Today, I'm thankful for IMAGINATION. Imagination is my escape, but also my way of establishing a kind of order to the chaos of the world. Without it, I'd have no career and probably no sanity.

NOVEMBER 24

Today I'm thankful for my sisters, Susan and Melissa. Even though I like to joke that we grew up as only children (we have big separations in age: Susan is 8 years older and Melissa is 11 years younger), they're still the only remainders I have from my immediate family. We're orphans together and, in spite of our age differences and the miles that separate us, they're never far from my heart.

NOVEMBER 25
Continuing my Thanksgiving gratitude countdown, this morning I'm thankful for home. I don't know how big I am into astrology, but my sign is Cancer and one thing that rings true about Cancers for me is that they're all about home (and water). All my life, one of the most important things to me is having and making a home. Home is my sanctuary, my safe place, and Dorothy said it best when she said there's no place like it. My heart's desire IS in my own backyard. And that heart's desire, curiously enough, has always been very close to a body of water, which also fits in with the Cancer theme (growing up, I was two blocks from the Ohio River, my many years in Chicago were always
spent very close to Lake Michigan, Miami, I was a short drive from the Atlantic, and here in Seattle, I overlook Lake Union). So, like my husband, Bruce (and fellow Cancer) I'm grateful for home...and water. They're both life-giving forces.

NOVEMBER 26
Today's the day! Happy Thanksgiving! What am I grateful for today? You.

Have a wonderful holiday.

What I'm Thankful For

After having narrowly averted a heart attack last Saturday (but with a stent put in one of my arteries which was almost completely blocked), I have a lot to be thankful for this holiday.

1. My heart. It may have a stent implanted in it, a leaky valve and other assorted problems my doctors and I now have to continue to watch out for, but hey, it's still tickin' and for that, I'm very grateful.

2. Bruce. My partner in life, light of my life, my everything. Oh, it's so good to have someone by your side and taking selfless good care of you when something like this happens (and even when something like this doesn't). I love and treasure my man and don't know how I got so lucky...so I'm really thankful we found each other eight years ago.

3. Nick. My son, who has always been the "creation" I'm most proud of (although he is most certainly his own man), stood by me during this difficult time with humor, compassion, and warmth that made its way to me all the way from Montreal.

4. Susan and Melissa. My big sister and little sister, respectively. Thank you both so much for calling every day and for the concern and love you sent across the miles. You may be all that's left of my immediate family, but you're all I need.

5. Lily. Yes, she's a dog. But her joy at seeing me when I came home from the hospital was indescribable. The love in those big brown eyes is more healing balm than all those medications they sent me home from the hospital with.

6. Venus and Chandra. My good friends in Chicago, who have become real family to me and show it constantly, even though we have been apart now for four years.

7. Verniqua. My best friend in Seattle...his very presence at the hospital demonstrated so much.

8. You. I was overwhelmed by the messages, the tweets, the flowers, the cards, and all the concern so many of you showed me over these past few days. I am truly grateful that all of you are out there, whether I have met you in person or only virtually, you're kindness means more to me than I can put into words.

I wish all of you the happiest of Thanksgivings...and want to express my gratitude and love to each and every one of you, from the bottom of my damaged little heart.