My selection for Poetry Thursday free day.  Lorna Crozier of Canada, one of my favorite poets.  There are several good poems are on the site.

And heeeere's Gracie! 

I have been inspired to share her story because of the sad events at Scout's house over the past several days.  They had to get rid of their dog after he bit their pre-school age daughter.  It was heart breaking for the kids.  They are trying to find a new dog.

In February of this year, I had to put down my nearly 16 year old little dog, Tiva.  She had been sick over the past year so we were prepared to let go of her but we were not prepared for the emptiness of the house after her death.  About a month later, I felt ready to start looking for a new dog.  My kids have had a thing for pugs for awhile and insisted that we get one.  I had a strong feeling that we needed to be open to whoever our new dog might be, that this was not to be a process of us picking out an animal and purchasing it like a new toy or peice of furniture.  I sensed that the dog was coming to us and perhaps needed us -- or that we needed the dog!  So I told the kids we were not going to pick a particular breed except "small."

So, one Sunday in March I announced that after going to Target I was going to go by PetSmart and PetCo and see what dogs were up for adoption and "start looking."  In the parking lot at Target, another car pulled up next to ours and my daughter and I noticed a pug sitting on a man in the front passenger seat.  As we got out of the car, we began visiting with the man and the pug and my daughter instantly fell in love.  (But was she the only one?)  Within a few minutes we had learned that the people in the car were from Pug Rescue, that they had just picked the dog up from the people who were relinquishing her, and that her name was Gracie.  A few days later, she came home to live with us! 

And she is the best dog.  Well, except for a few problems like her potty training problems that we are still working on . . . but she is still the best dog!  Luckily, she had been pretty well treated by her previous owners.  They gave her up because they were a working couple with no children who worked too many hours and could not give Gracie enough attention.  She was clearly very lonely and has needed lots of togetherness and closeness but, as you can imagine, my children have been more than happy to oblige.  So there is no question in my mind -- we found the dog we were meant to have.

I hope that posting this will send some positive energy out into the universe and perhaps help Scout's family find the next dog they are meant to have.  Good luck guys!