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If you know of a Westie in need
please email
dardoin@sport.com
immediately, if it is an emergency please call 318-631-6204.
Adoption Form
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Touch the cube.....
~Little Pieces~
Melissa sat on
the floor, unable to sit straight and tall like her mother had always admonished
her to do when she was a child. Today, it would be impossible. And tomorrow...it
probably wouldn't be possible then either. Her mind was too busy thinking about
the dog that lay across her lap.
When he came to be with her, he had no name. She remembered that day very well.
The first sight of him was enough to break her heart into little pieces. The
woman who had taken this dog from the rough streets where he had lived had tried
to save him because she was unable to watch this young dog find his own food in
a dumpster outside the crackhouses where he lived.
Nobody cared that he was gone. His fur was very thick; so thick that she had to
wiggle her fingers down to feel his bony body. And as she pulled her fingers
away again, they were coated in old dirt. Black and white, he was suppose to be,
but on that day he was beige and dust.
He sat in the back of her car panting continously, ears laid outward for he had
lost his courage and couldn't keep them proud and tall. He sat motionless,
waiting and limp. But the thing that was the most disturbing was the look in his
eyes. They were quiet eyes, sunken into his head - and they watched her. They
were alive with thought.
He was waiting for her to "do" something to him. Little did he know at the time
that, instead, she would "give" something to him. She gave him one of the little
broken pieces of her heart. She reached out to stroke his head and he
instinctively squinched his eyes shut and dropped his head, waiting for the
heavy hand. With that little bit of movement she gave him another one of the
broken pieces of her heart.
She took him home and gave him a bath. She toweled him dry and brushed some
order back into his coat. For that, he was grateful and even though his own
heart was loaded with worms, he accepted yet another piece of her heart, for it
would help to heal his own.
"Would you like some water, big boy?" she whispered to him as she set down a
large bowl of cold well water. He drank it up happily. He had been dehydrated
for a long time and she knew it would take him most of the week to rehydrate. He
wanted more water - but it was gone. Ah..that's how it is, he thought to
himself. But he was grateful for what he had been able to get. "Would you like
some more?" and she gave him another bowl along with another little piece of her
heart. "I know you are hungry. You don't have to find your own food anymore.
Here's a big bowl of good food for you. I've added some warm water and a little
piece of my heart."
Over the four months that he stayed with her, his health improved. The heart
full of worms was replaced piece by piece with little bits of her loving heart.
And each little piece worked a very special kind of magic. When the warmth of
love and gentle caresses are added, the little broken pieces knit together again
and heal the container it resides in. That container becomes whole again. She
watched each little broken piece fill a gap in the gentle dog until his quiet
eyes radiated the light from the little pieces. You see, kind words gently
spoken, turn the little pieces into illumination for the spirit that resides
within.
He rested beside her, happy to be with her always. Never had he known such
kindness, such gentle caresses; such love. His health had returned, his spirit
was playful as a young dog's should be and he had learned about love. Now his
heart was full. The healing was complete. It was time to go. There was another
person who had another heart that was meant to be shared with him.
So she sat shapeless on the floor because all the broken pieces of her heart
were with the dog. It is difficult to sit tall when your heart is not with you.
She wrapped her arms around the dog who sat with tall proud ears for her. Lean
on me, he said. And she gave him one last thing that would keep him strong; that
would keep the pieces of her heart together long after he had gone on to live
his new life. She gave him her tears and bound them to the pieces with a simple
statement made from the ribbons of her heart.
"I love you, Joe."
And Joe lived happily ever after.
Melissa sat on the floor, straight and tall like her mother had always
admonished her to do when she was a child. Today, it would be possible. And
tomorrow...it probably would be possible too. Because her mind was busy thinking
about this, the next dog that lay across her lap.
Where did she get the heart to help yet another dog, you ask? Ahhh...it came
with the dog. They always bring a little bit of heart with them. And when the
rescuer breathes in that little bit of heart, it quickly grows and fills the
void left by the last dog.
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