Celebrating the right way

As I mentioned, March 1st was my 37th birthday.  Most of the time, my birthdays are a little "lack-luster".  I generally get a "Happy Birthday" or two here and there, but there usually isn't much celebrating to be had.  This year was different.

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Wednesday, the day before my birthday, BFF, her daughter and her boyfriend, took us out to lunch to celebrate.  They took us to somewhere we'd never been, a restaurant called Ramano's Macaroni Grill.  I had the Lobster Ravioli and now I'm on a quest to find a recipe for it.  Man-Hide swears we will find one, and that he'll make it for me, but so far, none of the recipes I've found sound quite like the real thing.

I'm not kidding about how good this dish was!  Let's put it this way, I'm sure you've heard of the Food Network Show, "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" where all the famous chefs get on there and talk about the best dish they've ever eaten and where they got it from, right?  Well, if I was a famous foodie on that show, that would totally be my pick.  It was fantastic!

They also bought me a cake with my name on it.  I had a blast and I will love BFF for forever for trying to make my birthday special!

After that, we went to our 2nd orientation at the Humane Society.  We were expecting a large group of people again, like it was at the 1st one, but it ended up just being us and the lady doing the orientation.  With my social anxiety disorder, that was awesome!

I got a BIG birthday surprise while we were there, too.

At our first orientation, we were told that we'd be starting in March sometime, but last week, I saw on their Facebook page that they were having some trouble with their system and that the lady in charge of setting everyone's schedules had lost everyone's email address.  Per her request, I dutifully sent in ours.  Her response was to say she appreciated it, but unfortunately, everything was now behind because of this system crash.  She'd get me a schedule as soon as she could.  I was disappointed to say the least, but tried to take it in stride.

Since we were the only people to show up for the 2nd orientation, and the lady doing the schedules was there, we were given our schedules on the spot, and since we'd put Thursdays on our availability, we were penciled in for the very next day, Thursday, which just happened to also be my birthday!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Thursday, we were up and raring to go early and went and did a little of our weekly shopping and errands, then we were off to the Humane Society for our first official day as Volunteers.

When we first got there, in spite of the two orientations we'd been through, we were still a little disoriented.  We wanted to start with the Rescue Room, (which is where all the new animals go that are waiting for a clean bill of health from the vet tech, or behavior testing, or maybe just an open kennel on the floor.  This is a different room than the regular kennel area that the public sees.) but the kennel worker was cleaning their kennels, so we decided to wait.  We checked the Isolation room, but all the doggies in there were too young to be walked yet (and they have to be walked at the end of your shift with special leashes in a separate area so they don't get the other doggies sick), so we headed for the main kennels.

There was already a volunteer there that was letting the doggies out for free-play in the yard kennel by kennel, so we just kind of jumped in and started rotating kennels.  She would take one kennel resident out on a leash to the field and we would wait for her to get out of the gate, then we'd let the next kennel out for free-play.  When she would get ready to come back in, we'd leash our charges and get them back in the kennels so she could bring her charge through the yard.  (You have to keep dogs from different kennels separated because they might not get along.  Not all dogs at the Humane Society are necessarily good with other dogs.)

We did this until she left, then Man-Hide and I just started going kennel by kennel, taking them out to walk.

I walked one old girl named Emma.  She's a yellow lab, about 8 years old, arthritic and a little over-weight.  I bonded with her immediately.

As I walked behind her and watched her booty bounce with every step, I told her it looked like we had some things in common.  It was my birthday, after all, and I was feeling my age right about then (about an hour in to our session and I'd been chasing puppies all morning).  I could imagine our booties bouncing in unison as we walked around the field.

A little later, we finally made it to the Rescue Room, where I met the most adorable Boston Terrier named Angel.  Now, as you can guess, we have a passion for anything bulldog, and Bosties and Frenchies are both a breed of bull-dog, but they are small and manageable and, frankly, easier to get a place to live with.  When we get our own place, we fully intend to own one or the other.

Angel's paperwork listed her at about 8 years old (like Emma) but with a digestive problem that required a special diet (this is why she was still in the Rescue Room).  We took her out and enjoyed a nice walk around the field, just like with Emma, but Angel decided to take a break about half-way back to the fence, so we sat down with her in the grass and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

After about 10 or 15 minutes, one of the Adoption Counselors headed our way.  To begin with, I thought we'd done something wrong and they were coming after us, but as she neared, she said Angel's new family was there to pick her up!  She got adopted practically right out of my arms!

I'll be honest, I wasn't sure how I would handle dogs I bonded with getting adopted to someone other than me.  I was afraid I'd be sad and maybe even cry, but when we got there, we found out Georgia had been adopted and then Angel gets adopted practically from my arms.  I was thrilled for both of them!  Now I understand how people manage to work in shelters.  There is serious satisfaction in knowing one of "yours" found a home and that you made a really stressful time in their lives just a little bit better.

After we finished up at the shelter, we went up to Bald Rock.  For those that know me, this is a religious experience.  I find so much peace with myself and my life up there, and it was exactly what I needed after all the stress and drama I've been dealing with.  We even took some pictures while we were there, but I've been having a hard time getting around to getting them off of Man-Hide's phone (my battery goes dead the minute I think the word "camera").

All in all, it was an awesome birthday!  Truly one of my best yet!

Love, light and happiness...until next time!

Georgia on my mind

This is Georgia.  She's a beautiful Boxer Bull dog that Man-Hide and I were lucky enough to spend part of our afternoon with today.  She's a year and half old, and has a club foot that the vet tech said was likely that way from birth.

We have no idea how she ended up at the shelter.  We spent over an hour with her, and she was one of the most loving and affectionate dogs I've ever had the pleasure of spending time with.

We took her out to the porch and as she walked, she did not let her foot hinder her at all.  She even pulled a little on the leash in her excitement to get outside with us.

As we sat, Georgia climbed up between us and lay across both our laps.  She was very relaxed and seemed to just be enjoying her time with us, as if she knew it was a gift.

Leaving her at the shelter today was hard for both of us, and we agreed that if we had our own place, she would have come home with us.  On the walk back to her kennel, she resisted and looked at us very sadly as we said our goodbyes.

The only thing that's going to get me through times like these, is knowing that if it weren't for people like us, and the rest of the staff and volunteers at the shelter, Georgia, and others like her, would likely face a life alone on the streets or be condemned to wait on "death row" because of her breed, or might get no attention at all.

As hard as it is to leave one behind that you could so clearly have a special bond with, I know that I brought a  little joy into Georgia's life today.  That, in turn, brought some joy into mine.

If I can give these wonderful babies love, time and attention until they find their fur-ever homes, then I know I have made some small difference in what could have otherwise been, a very sad situation.

As much as I hope to see Georgia again next week when I return to the shelter, part of me also hopes that I won't.  That I'll find out that she got to go to her fur-ever home with a family that will love and care for her.

For now, though, I definitely have Georgia on my mind....

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Mom update:

Today was another round with the plasma transfusions.  I spoke with her earlier (still haven't been able to go up there because of my cold) and she was very tired and said she'd had a bad day.  The plasma and blood transfusions do that to her.

Still no word on if she'll get to come home Friday or if that's just wishful thinking on her part.  We'll have to wait and see.

Love, light and happiness....until next time....