Puppy Love

Good afternoon, everyone (actually, I fully intended to start this post with "Good Morning", since I was going to write this while I was having my breakfast when I got here to work this morning, but that just didn't happen today, so it's a late lunch & some blogging...)--this time, it's just a love note to my sweet, beautiful, adorable & precious little puppy, Mazzie, whose birthday/anniversary my wife & I are celebrating today; amazingly, it's 2 years today we brought her home from North Shore Animal League--like anything else my wife & I do, there's a story there: on a very rainy & nasty weather day, September 28th, 2009, just under 2 months after we moved into our apartment (and, it should be noted, when our future-landlord showed us the apartment, he mentioned he not only had 2 dogs of his own & that it was a very dog-friendly neighborhood, but, after asking us if we liked dogs & my wife saying how she just lost a Pomeranian & had one before that & other dogs as well, if we wanted to, we could get a small dog & let it do its business in the backyard that joins our 1st floor apt. & his upstairs); well, that's all my wife had to hear, so on that September day, we ventured out to North Shore & after seeing all kinds of dogs, all shapes & sizes, etc. as you would there, an older staff worker brought around a scraggly, kind of sickly-looking Pomeranian named "Dolly" who was missing some hair, had no teeth, had a cataract in her left eye & as we also found it, had a benign tumor near her rear end but was so cute & wanting of love; being a puppy-mill dog, the cataract was from banging her head against the cage, the loss of her teeth was from neglect, etc., etc--one look & my wife was in love; she held her awhile then gave her to me--I looked in her eyes & said "I'm screwed, aren't I??" LOL--we wanted her right then & there & started the process; however, only being in our new apt. 2 months gave us no stable or credible residence info yet in their eyes; also, we needed a notarized reference letter from the landlord @ the very least--of course, we couldn't get him on the phone & ended leaving North Shore dejected & feeling as dreary as the weather (I don't envy the security guard who is like the "Angel of Death", killing people's hopes when they're turned down or denied a pet for whatever reason--when he called my wife's name, my heart sank)--luckily, after a rough nite between us, we re-grouped, focused & had an in as a notary would be @ the christening party we were attending the next day (a friend of ours); we got the landlord to hand-write a letter of reference for us; suffice it to say, we returned to North Shore Monday night (in almost WORSE weather!!) & successfully got our girl & took her home (but not before we almost physically tried keeping other people away from her in her oversized cage there--not really, but nearly so!!)--she never fails to warm & melt our hearts & brighten our worst days & nites; she's our life & we are so lucky to have her--good message here, folks: always adopt, never buy a pet; save a puppy or kitty's life & feel good about what you're doing for another of God's creatures---OK, lunch is done & now back to work--till next time, ciao for now :)