The last twenty four hours have been about welcoming a new member of my family into our lives. His name is Jay, and he is a five year old German Shepherd. He came to us from a busy family who put him in a kennel during the day. He also has skin irritation all over his body. We are expecting that as he settles in, and he has remarkably already, some of his nerves will die down. I purchased a special food today that should also help with skin issues, and we gave him his flea drops. Already he is blooming in his new environment. He loves to play with tennis balls and will chew on them until they are in pieces. I went to the tennis courts today to try and score some more tennis balls and unfortunately only got three, along with many scratches on my bare legs from the rose brambles. Essentially, we are in love. He is already sleeping in bed with us at night, and the cat is adjusting. Though she is not pleased, she has lived with big dogs her entire life, and I imagine she will make friends with Jay eventually.

Four months ago our dog Lionel passed away at thirteen years. Two years before that Lionel’s brother Bruce also passed away at thirteen. For the last four months we have been dealing with Steve’s cancer, first a biopsy procedure, then a PET scan, and eventually consultations with both a radiation oncologist and a chemo oncologist, that led to six weeks of radiation treatment and chemotherapy. Then we waited a month to discover that the tumor has reacted very well to treatment, and that Steve may even be cancer free at this point. But to be sure, we are going to start immunotherapy, where Steve will receive a treatment once a month for a years time. A few days ago, we got a call from our dear friend Patty, asking if we would be interested in Jay. It is like a switch got turned on inside of me, and I immediately knew that this would be our dog. We had to travel off island Tuesday to meet with Steve’s oncologists, but we agreed to have him brought by on Wednesday, yesterday. It was somewhat convenient to not have to worry about a dog these last four months, with so much travel in our lives, but now it is time, the perfect time, to turn that switch back on within myself. All I could think about Monday and Tuesday was our new dog, and when I saw him, if I wasn’t sure already, I knew that he would stay.

Animals are a very beautiful and spiritual thing. The presence of a dog in my home is like having a fire in the hearth. It just permeates love and goodness into my life. We have had our sweet cat these last four months, but other than that, and a dog we babysit 3 nights a week, our home had become kind of vacant. There must have been a vacant space inside of myself as well, because now I feel so full. I know I have a purpose, because Jay needs me. We need each other. Blessings on all of the animals on this planet that make our lives better both near and far. And thank you Universe for the best Christmas present a person could ask for, a dog named Jay.