When I was three years old I lived in foster homes for a year and a half. The first foster family’s dog was a liver spotted Springer Spaniel, who had liver colored fur-dots, so they named her Penny.
I was small and thin and Penny was taller, overweight, and with one
joyful enthusiastic wag of her tailless hind end, she would send me flying to the floor.
My foster parents were wild about Penny, but my mind only saw an elephant who was about to “floor” me.
When my foster mother, Mrs. M, took me to visit her parents, I fell in love. It was first with her cranky father, Mr. B, that everyone thought would scare me, but who within minutes of us meeting, I had him wrapped around my little
finger. I loved him. He was gentle and patient with me and it was easy to make him smile. His laps were a safe place of comfort and kindness, as I blew out his pipe’s matches, and he barked at adults.
Mr. B’s house held magic because he had the first cat I ever met. It was thrilling to learn that we on planet earth were blessed to share our time with these beautiful soft animals! There is a photo of Mrs. M coaxing me to stand by her beloved Penny, but that
day I realized I was a cat person and hid behind Mr. B.’s grey Persian, Smokey, patting him in the photo.
My gentle foster mother had a thing for dogs. She was never without one. When Mrs. M was 96-years-old she was still at home with her daughter and their dog, Bayley. Bayley spent the entire eight years of his life on the couch cuddled up with the woman we all loved.
Three days prior to Mrs. M’s peaceful death, as the paramedics were
lifting her in the ambulance, she patted Bayley on the head and said ... “You be a good boy”.
After her death, we were all in grief, even Bayley. Her daughter acknowledged the dog’s grief by going to her mother’s bedroom, taking the pillow with Mrs. M’s scent still on it and placing it on the couch. Bayley wrapped his arms around the pillow, looked up at the daughter, and happily wagged his tail as if to say, “Thank you for
understanding.”
“Over the years, I have placed all sorts of towels on the couch,” said her daughter, “but he never responded like he did with Mum’s pillow.”
Animals have feelings that cannot be overlooked. They love deeply, care deeply, grieve deeply, and feel responsible for their people. These are some of the many blessings of surrounding yourself with pets.
Then the oddest thing began happening! My computer has a
BING screen saver, it randomly gives you a daily choice of four photos to choose from. The day after Mrs. M.’s passing, for the first time in years of screen choices, it displayed a liver colored Springer Spaniel like Penny!
Then at coffee the next day, the same colored dog walked by me, then at the dog park for the next three days, the same breed and color of spaniel was paraded by.
I asked each owner their pet’s
name, all were different, and all the owners, once told of the spaniel synchronicities said, “That is so odd, as these dogs are rare. We don’t see many ourselves.”
All the sightings felt like hugs from Heaven. Keep believing, keep shining your love, it makes a difference in this world.
