For a Reason

I’m not sure whether the belief that “everything happens for a reason” stems from wisdom or the human need to comfort those who are down, but either way I’m a fan.

Anyone who read Tuesday’s entry (click here to view) knows the anxiety Chris and I have dealt with over the past few weeks. Not wanting to put a blemish on anyone’s reputation or reopen the wounds that have finally begun to heal, all I will say is this: We will not be getting the pup we’d been expecting (he will be going to another very nice home), but we will be getting a puppy who will become our Shadow and who we will love for years to come.

With heavy hearts, we began our search anew Tuesday night, hoping to find a breeder closer to us – a place we could actually visit, where we could meet the puppies, the parents, and the breeders with whom we would be placing our full trust.

After countless days of darkness, the light is seeping back in and the joy of a new puppy has returned. We have seen several beacons over the past 36 hours. We have been shown respect, compassion and understanding by many breeders. And we have left conversations feeling uplifted, hopeful and – most importantly – confident in their abilities. The road we are on now seems so right it could have been destined.

Please check back this weekend for more details and photos. To quote Jerry Seinfeld on one of the best sitcoms ever made, “The wheels are in motion; things are happening!”

Tomorrow I will also post a list of things that (looking back with that pesky 20/20 hindsight) we should have inquired about or realized from the beginning. One adage with which I whole-heartedly agree is that a mistake isn’t entirely worthless if a lesson is learned. And I would like more than one person to learn from our mistakes.