Well, I’ve been wanting to take a stab at blogging for awhile now.  It’s been hard to get started, that’s for sure. What should I write about?  Should I write about flowers…after all I’m a florist! Yes, I believe that would be most helpful and informative…but not for the first blog.  For my very first blog I want to write about something else…

So in 2012 we lost our sweet golden retriever.  She was 13 years old. She was an integral part of our family.  I knew that I would miss her so much, but we decided we would take a break from dogs/pets for a little while.  As anyone that has lost a pet knows, their absence can be heartbreaking. No little paw taps on the hardwood floor, no walks with your buddy…no one sleeping under my work table while creating floral arrangements.  I tried to tell myself I didn’t need another dog. Another buddy. It would get easier. But it didn’t get easier.

My sweet husband agreed, and after only a month, we decided to look into adopting a rescue Golden Retriever.  Not really wanting to go through the “training a puppy” stage, we began searching on different websites for our next fur baby.  Now, truly there are many wonderful organizations out there.  We signed up with a couple and went through the application process and even had folks out to check and make sure our house was safe for a dog.  

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity (actually only 30 days or so!) we got a call that there were two male dogs available for adoption and they thought both would be a good fit for us, based on our application and home visit.  One was older, and since we were looking for a younger pup that we could take care of for years to come, we decided to go visit the younger dog.  

Now, here’s where it gets weird.  I’m a firm believer in things being meant to be, but this whole story just reinforced that

We were actually headed out of town to Las Vegas with our daughters.  I was able to speak with the foster family and asked them if there was anyway they could wait until Sunday.  I explained that we would be out of town, but would drive straight from Las Vegas to Fountain Valley to meet the little boy.  At first, she said she couldn’t guarantee that he would still be available, but after chatting for a bit, she was willing to hold on to him until we could meet him.

Well, as Sunday came around, we became so excited to meet this cute pup.  We drove straight to the foster family’s home to meet him. We parked the car and started towards the house.  This beautiful blonde little man came running towards us, jumped up and put his paws on the picket fence and immediately rubbed up against our hands, kissing us and loving us!  Of course, we were SO impressed!  The foster family invited us in to visit for a bit.  The cute little man was playing with his foster brothers and getting along really well, but still came over to see us and give us kisses.  We even got to take him for a walk. Immediately, we were smitten!  

Feeling like we were ready to take this little guy home, we still had to get the OK from the foster family.  The foster mom was telling us that another lady had come to see him, and she just wanted to know what tricks he knew, whether was he house broken, etc.  The foster mom said she knew immediately that this wasn’t the right person for him.  There was no connection between them. With us, it was different! He was drawn to us, and we were in love with him!  The foster mom agreed…tears of joy!

And for the past 6½  years, our sweet golden Ryder has been such an important part of our family! He loves to cuddle on the couch with us while watching TV, enjoys walks around our hometown of Glendora, has fun playing with our neighbor’s golden, and waits to eat his dinner until he gets a kiss on the nose from me. Every pet holds a special place in our hearts, and Ryder is one special pup.

My point of this story is this.  Pets bring us joy! And organizations that bring people and pets perfectly suited to them together deserve our support.  We appreciate the work that Golden Retriever Club of Greater Los Angeles Rescue did to find us the perfect dog! There were many dogs I called them about, but they knew more than I did about the best placement for these sweet animals!

I saw a bumper sticker recently that says it all perfectly…”Who Rescued Who?”

We are happy to make a donation to this wonderful organization this year.  If you feel so inclined, here is the link:

https://www.grcglarescue.org/donate

Looking forward to writing more blogs in 2019!  And…I’m pretty sure they will have something to do with flowers!!