My mom gave up on me.
I’m not really sure why. I know sometimes I had accidents in the house and a lot of nights I would get under her feet while she was trying to get the kids ready for bed, but…
I just missed her.
We used to hang out all the time and play and snuggle when Mom first brought me home. It was my favorite part of the day. She would come home and tell me about her day and we’d watch TV and it would be just us.
Sometimes we’d go out in the yard and play ball or she’d take me to the dog park and everything was really amazing.
Then she met Mark and she was so excited about getting married and that first year with Mark, Mom and me, it was everything I had heard a family could be.
Then the babies came along and I was really happy and wanted to share in the joy, but it seemed like all I ever did was get in the way.
So, Mom gave up on me.
I couldn’t seem to connect with her like I used to. She didn’t even want to snuggle on those rare moments when she got a chance to sit down at the end of the night. I knew there was a time when I could have made her feel better and given her a moment of respite. It was still there. I could feel it.
She just didn’t want it anymore.
Mom gave up on me.
She took me to the Cumberland Valley Animal Shelter and said she didn’t have time for me. She didn’t really even seem all that upset.
I thought I meant more to her than that, but…
Mom gave up on me.
The people at the shelter were pretty upset that she did that to me. They say I’m a real nice dog and they can’t understand why someone would just surrender me to the shelter like that.
I’m not so sure either.
Maybe I should be mad. The animals in the kennels say it would make sense if I was angry. I could take it out on all the other people who try to be nice to me, but…
That’s just not me. The people at the shelter treat me so sweetly. They take me on walks and snuggle with me like Mom used to do.
I really don’t want to become something that I’m not just because Mom gave up on me.
I’m at the shelter for a few weeks when a man and a woman look at me in my kennel and for a second, I don’t even blink. There’s something in their eyes that gives me a warm feeling in my heart and shivers all along my legs.
They read about my story and take me into a bonding room and both of them just pet me for the longest time. I see sadness in their eyes, but also an odd sense of conviction.
The woman says, “We can give her what the other people didn’t.”
I put my head on her knee. It’s the only way I have to say how much her words mean to me.
They adopt me the next day.
My mom gave up on me, but as I head home with these new people, something tells me that’s not going to happen again.
The first night, I’m allowed to sleep in their bed and I promise myself I will do everything I can to stay with them.
Over the years, the family grows and every moment, I am a part of it. There’s never anything I’m left out of – except some of the turkey on Thanksgiving and chocolate on Valentine’s Day, no matter how much I try to beg, but they tell me that’s for my own good.
Sometimes I wonder if Mom gave up on me so I could meet the people who would love me forever and find the place where I would truly have a family.
My mom gave up on me.
And I’m actually really glad that she did.
