When Our Family Became Complete...
14 years ago today, we were blessed to adopt Romeo from Winnipeg Animal Services. It’s the second adoption day anniversary without him physically here and it hurts just as badly as the first.
When something is meant to be, everything will line up and the timing will be perfect. Call it fate or destiny, but there is no denying that Romeo joining our family is the ultimate example in my own life of that.
On August 13, 2009, I showed my partner a pic of a dog named “Valentino” posted on Winnipeg Animal Services (WAS). I loved him as soon as I saw his beautiful face. I said that we should meet him on the weekend. My partner suggested that we go the next morning before I went to work. That was the first step in everything lining up.
We got to WAS early on the morning of Friday, August 14, 2009. We went to the kennels and there he was: one of the smallest dogs there, barking his face off. I loved him even more.
We (me, my partner, and our dog Mia) were taken to a quiet room while they made sure the backyard was clear for the dogs to interact with each other. As we waited, “Valentino” sat right in front of me, already claiming me.
We went to the backyard. The moment of truth. Mia was also a rescue who had been dumped repeatedly due to being “too much”. She had a history of being “too high energy” and playing “too rough” with other dogs, especially ones smaller than her. As she sniffed the toys in the backyard, “Valentino” sniffed her, gave her a few licks, then enthusiastically ran around, nipping Mia’s heels, and encouraging her to play with him. This may have been the first time in Mia’s life that another dog engaged her instead of the other way around. And he didn’t act as though she was “too much”. That was the second step in everything lining up.
I recently looked back at some of my notes at the time and I had forgotten about this one. As we headed to the front to do the paperwork, the woman at the desk said that he might be on hold for someone. My heart sank. I said that Mia never gets along with other dogs and they just hit it off. She kept looking at her computer and said, “Oh, never mind. They had until August 12 to decide.” That was the third step in everything lining up.
I paid and got to signing papers. A woman and her 2 kids walked through the doors. “Oh, we came to meet him,” she said to me. The boy knelt down to extend a hand to now Romeo (old name discarded!) who promptly turned away and came back to me. “Really? Aw, I'm sorry, but she's (Mia) an only child and they seem to love each other already,” I said. That was the fourth step in everything lining up.
If we had gone on the weekend like I initially suggested, we would have never met Romeo. If we had arrived at WAS 5 minutes later, we probably would have missed the chance to adopt Romeo. EVERYTHING lined up exactly as it should have for Romeo to complete our family. I can say with absolute certainty that it was meant to be.
I’ve had lots of tears today as I reflect on our physical time together and how much I miss that. 523 days of grieving.
I picked up a bouquet of flowers from local florist The Garden Path just as I did last year.
I’ll make another donation to the Western College of Veterinary Medicine Les and Irene Dube Good Samaritan Fund. I’ll tend to the memorial butterfly garden I planted for Romeo. I do these things and my heart still hurts.
And I’m going to smile as I remember the way Romeo sat in front of me to claim me at WAS and the way he play-bowed at Mia in that backyard with his face joyfully lit up in getting her to play with him.