Today we watched Maggie May, who came to us in the spring of 2006 near death and then blossomed into a beautiful dog, leave with her new ‘mom’ to go to a home where she will be the only dog. She even has her own room complete with her own chair waiting for her, two children who are beside themselves with excitement at her joining the family, and a bright future where she will have a whole family to herself. She left earlier today (I cried) and we’ve already gotten an update that she’s settling in well so far.

If we were meant to save her life and heal her so that she would eventually go on to make another family’s lives complete, then it was well worth it. For us, it feels as if a tremendous weight has been lifted. It wasn’t fair for her to have to live the constrained life we forced upon her, and for us, besides the burden of one more mouth to feed, there was constant anxiety and guilt for not providing the right home for her. One less dog means that the next time we move, it will be easier to find a good place to live and we can afford to downsize even further to pay off bills.

Along with Maggie went her ‘party collars’ (of course) and jacket, but also Mojo’s superman costume, Lilly’s bunny ears, and assorted other toys and items that we had in our memento box. We hadn’t been sure what to do with these items, and it raises our spirits to know that Maggie and her new human siblings will enjoy them together.

So here’s a toast to a wonderful new life for Maggie, and the beginning of a new path for us which we hope will eventually lead to us being debt free and owning a home of our own!