My Calling In Life

I’m sitting here in my small study and I’m surrounded by love.  It’s not the kind of love that most people think of.....the love I’m surrounded by has four feet, fur, cold noses and, well, you get the point.  They are my dogs.  Bear, Bama, Sam, Rebel, and Dixie.  Those are the ones at my feet.  The ones on my desk are furry, cold nosed and have multi feet as well......they belong to the feline portion of my family.  Jack and Max are brothers, Sassy was a throw away who was lucky enough to be found by me, and Riley and Buster; my hero's.  I ask myself tonight (not the first time this question has occurred to me) why am I sitting here, barely able to pay attention, much less bills, when I could be living the good life.  What is my higher purpose? I'm attending college to make my life better, but it should be better now.  Why am I a rescuer and not a veterinarian? 

The simple answer is that I love animals.  This is a relatively new thought for me.  When I say new, I don't mean just yesterday.  I was probably in my 30's when I decided that there were enough people saving people and just not enough of us helping animals.  I’ve spent over half my life taking care of animals that other people have thrown away.  I don't understand people at all.  Dogs and cats......I totally understand them.  They are pure love.....unwavering, unconditional love.  There has never been anything that I have done that was worthy of a dogs sneer or a cats disdain. Whatever it was that was done is forgotten and never brought up again.

I'm not a veterinarian, and never will be one, but I know a lot about dogs and cats.  I know that I dont know it all, and never will.  Life is my teacher and I never miss the chance to learn something new.  I remember when I was a child of 7 or 8, when my friends were outside playing, I would be curled up on the bed with an encyclopedia, looking at photos of dogs.  I remember the books I read as a child; they were about animals.  So, why didn't I know when I was younger that my passion, my calling in life, is having dogs, rescuing dogs, caring for dogs, talking about dogs, or anything having to do with dogs?  I think that God has given me this calling, as some are called to medicine, or ministry, or any number of things that God calls us to do.

I'm blessed with three beautiful children.  I don't know if I was the world’s greatest parent, but they didn't give me an owner’s manual for raising kids.  The one thing that I know I did right was to instill in them the love of animals and the knowledge that we have to care about the animals that God has given us.

My youngest child, Allison, when she was 8 years old, reduced the entire veterinary staff at an animal hospital, to tears with her words concerning an injured cat she had found one cold December day. He was an intact stray who had been hit by a car as he attempted to cross the road.  After taking him to the vet’s office, and being told that he was very sick and that there was nothing that could be done to make him better, my sweet little girl made the decision to send him off to live with God.  Standing beside the cold metal table, holding his head in her hands, Allison said "I think the worst thing in the world would be to live with no one to love you".  The tears flowed freely from my dog doctor's eyes, and the technician who was assisting her, stepped away to wipe her eyes and blow her nose.     The lump in my throat grew larger when my child amended her remark by adding "I think it might be worse to die without having been loved by anyone".  When the cat was finally in heaven, or at the rainbow bridge, as we dog folks like to say, my daughter finished crying, and her grief turned to anger at the injustice of the situation.  If he had been altered and loved as someone’s pet, there would have been no reason for tears.  Before leaving the office, she turned and asked the vet if she could come and help her take care of the animals in the hospital to pay for the office visit. The vet, crying once again, told her that there was no charge.

I look back at that evening with pride.  I taught my daughter to love.  The animals taught her to care.  Don't dare, ever, tell my daughter that it’s just an animal.  She knows better.  I have my own beliefs about the care of dogs and cats, but throughout her 22 years of life, she has developed her own soapboxes.  She stands firmly in favor of spaying and neutering.  The topic of outside pets, chained, or in pens, sends her into a tirade.  Pets are family to her and should be cared for as you would your own children.

According to statistics provided by HSUS, in 2009, there were over 4,000,000 animals euthanized in shelters in the United States.  Approximately 58% of them were pit bulls.  According to statistics provided by the same organization, there are between 6 and 8 million pets entering animal shelters every year.  In light of these numbers, I can see no good argument for not spaying or neutering family pets, and neither can Allison.

So, as I jostle my feet on the floor, trying to move a 91 pound Labrador retriever off of my, now numb, right foot, and as I correct the typing errors caused by the playful paws of a tiger striped cat, I realize that I am blessed.  And if I ever grow up, I don't plan on doing a thing differently.  As Alex Caras once said, "animals don't make our whole lives, but they make our lives whole".

Thanks to Leanne Simmons McConnell for making the video "Old Yeller and Friends" at OneTrueMedia.com  for MidSouth Animal Rescue League and for letting me use it in my blog.  There are just not enough homes for all of the pets in shelters.  Spay and neuter your pets and help stop pet over population.  "Until there are none, adopt one".

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com