Second Chances

This life we lead is all about second chances -- Chaz and I have both had our share, and I believe that's at least part of what brought us together: the Powers That Be decided that we both deserved a little something good once we'd each been broken down and taught how to NOT take it for granted. The critters that let us share this house with them are all by-products of second chances as well. There's Edgar who was dumped out into an unforgiving neighborhood to fend for himself as a kitten; Luna who was adopted and returned to a rescue group not once but twice for being 'destructive' (for the record, 'destructive' is what happens when you bring an animal into a new home and leave it unattended for days); Lennon, who was foundering in the back of a cage after his littermates had all been adopted and he was rooming with a kitten that didn't leave much of the spotlight for him; Stella, who was surrendered to a kill-shelter but was thankfully picked up by an animal welfare group; and our precious Renny, who was brought to us as a 2 week old with little hope of making it through the night. The dogs each have their own story, but our most recent additions were both days away from having their bright lights snuffed out permanently because of overcrowding at the local animal shelter. Lucy, my 'little red fox' was found as a stray; she's an incredible little dog with a sense of entitlement and empathy for people in hospitals (I've spent a great deal of time in hospitals recently due to my Mom's illness, and it hasn't been difficult to sneak Lucy in with me for visits to brighten everyone's day). We just picked Buster up on Friday; he's been making rounds on the rescue blogs and I was hoping that when I called the shelter, they'd tell me that he'd been picked up. What they told me instead was that, while they'd tried to keep him off the chopping block, come Monday they may have no other options. We picked him up not knowing if he'd be a foster or a keeper but he's done beautifully with our pack and the way his face lights up every morning when he realizes that he gets to spend the day with the same people and animals that he did the day before makes it pretty much a no-brainer. We wanted to live on the farm so that we could live THIS life -- with all of its chaos and early mornings and stress and occasional sleepless nights and surprises -- and watching all of the critters make the most of their second chances makes every moment of it worthwhile.