I contemplated which of two paws-ible ways to drive home and decided on “the road less traveled”. What happened next was magical!
While driving, I became un-BEAR-ably thirsty. I pulled over to retrieve the water bottle from the back seat. Just then a lady, Ursula, walked by
with her dog, Fred. I asked, “Does your dog have a story?” Ursula replied, “Boy! Does he ever!”
Ursula then added, “Mary Ellen, moments ago I asked the universe for you, honestly! I told my husband, ‘I want to meet someone new, unusual and interesting.’
Well, that sums me up! And from that moment on Ursula, Fred and I became best friends and walking buddies!
It demonstrates that what we put out is attracted to
us. Ursula and I live miles apart and if it was not for this one brief encounter we would never have become friends! I am always looking for good pet stories and Ursula was right, “Boy! Does he ever!”
Fred’s story must be premised with the knowledge that just before her wedding Ursula asked her fiancé if they could get a dog and he was insistent, “No!”.
“The morning of our wedding,” said Ursula, “I dreamed that someone left a brown
paper bag with a little dog in it on my porch. The ‘dream’ dog was exceptionally calm.
Our destination wedding was 1,400 miles away and my future-in-laws had also arrived to attend. When we were in the hotel’s parking lot, on the way to our wedding, I shared my dream with them.
Seconds later we saw a woman, Diana, her fiancé and his sister walking a dog. The little love bug took right to me, so I bent down to pet it and said, ‘I love
your little dog!’. Diana surprisingly responded, ‘Do you want him?’”
Diana told Ursula that a few hours earlier, the group had “...rescued the dog off the highway!” It took all three of them, forming a human net, to corral and catch the terrified-dirty stray. They then took it to a vet. The not fixed or micro chipped dog was given inoculations and groomed. Now here he was shortly after Ursula’s dream all cleaned up being “presented” to
her!
Ursula’s groom said that, “Fred can be your wedding gift.” So, of course Ursula said “I do!”-- to them both!
Diana wouldn’t take any money for Fred’s expenses because she was thrilled he found a good home. Apparently, he was her fourth rescue and the local shelter has a 72-hour kill policy for strays!
Meeting Diana and Fred was as serendipitous as Ursula meeting me. After Fred’s grooming, the rescuers took a stroll
with the dog to discuss alternative options to the shelter when Ursula walked up to them.
“We had flown to the wedding” said Ursula, “and were not prepared to fly a dog home. So my future in-laws agreed to take Fred home with them until we could make other arrangements. Diana gave us her address, we went and got married, and then drove over to retrieve my wedding gift!”
In the meantime, an excited Diana phoned her mother and shared the entire
Freeway-Fred-Dream-Wedding story, “That it was Divine intervention! Fate!” While Ursula’s father-in-law joked, “You are never allowed to dream again!”
Ursula’s “dog” dream was a premonition. As the expression goes, “It is all in the bag.” Fred’s vet care, grooming and easy adoption were “all in the bag” and then literally handed to her!
Here is the other spooky part! Just like in the dream, Fred is super calm! When the
honeymooners picked him up, he was as calm as he remains to this day. What Divine force connected them, like two run-away trains when they were 1,400 miles apart! If the bride had not been in the parking lot, then none of this would have transpired.
The newlyweds flew home and her in-laws took Fred to their home. Several of the in-laws friends offered to adopt Fred, but when the groom’s mother began falling in love with the little vagabond, the “I don’t want
a dog” husband drove 3,000 miles and paid for two nights in hotels to get “his dog!”
“Fred is the best dog,” said Ursula. “He is calm, nothing phases him, he does not bark and when my husband is on business trips, Fred cuddles with me.”
Fred has the funniest sleeping paws-ition! He sleeps like a fuzzy Teddy bear tossed on his back on the floor with his legs straight-up in the air with his ears flopped to each side.
Fred
had been homeless for a long time; he was starving, dirty and scared of his rescuers’ attempts to help him. It is a miracle he was not struck by a car on that six lane freeway with vehicles traveling 75 mph!
“It is a blessing that Diana and her friends spent so much time and danger rescuing Fred,” said Ursula, “because he has so much love to give, to so many people.”
