Tomorrow is going to be bittersweet. I'm going to say goodbye to one of my sweet foster dogs, "Max".
He's found a "forever" home with a couple who's been searching for the right dog, and Max is it. And I'm happy they found Max...but I'll still miss him.
Little Max came from a rural "kill shelter," where the rescue finds and saves dogs. He arrived looking like a skeleton...a head, ribcage and fur.
He arrived adult but young. A dirty, scared, over-sized puppy. A dog with no history.
When he looked up at me through his crate with sad, dark eyes, I knew I had another foster to love for awhile. So, when the Vet said he wasn't eating well, I offered to bring him home to fatten him up.
Max thrived over the next few months. He ate and ate, and gradually came out of his shell. At first, he didn't know what grass was. Was he a puppy mill dog? Or just crated his entire life?
At night, he slept in his own little bed next to mine...but many mornings, I'd lift the covers and there was Max. He'd crawl out and give me a kiss to say, "Ha ha, Mom! Surprise!" I'm really going to miss him.
But tomorrow, Max is going home...his real home. I've been his transition home, as I was supposed to be. To love and release.
The more we can place, the more we can rescue. There are so many more little Max's...sad dark eyes, sometimes bones and fur, sometimes obese and hardly being able to walk. But the eyes are always the same.
I love Max, but tomorrow he will go to hearts that will love him more than I. And he won't leave next time.
And I will love another, again.
Carpentersville, IL
