One of the great joys of
writing a book about animals and angels is having people get in touch with us to share
their own stories about their special animal friends. Whether your animal companion is
furred, feathered or finned, flies through the air, runs through the trees or crawls on
the ground, if you have experienced a magical connection we'd love to hear your story.
Would you like to hear the story of how our dog, Jake, came to live
with us? It was early in December, 1995, about 7 weeks after the devastating loss of our
beloved doggie, Martha. Our home was still graced by the presence of Gypsy, our
little 16-year-old terrier/poodle who was mostly blind and almost completely deaf.
Out of respect for Gypsy we had decided not to invite another dog into our home so Gypsy
could live out the rest of her days in peace. But seven weeks after Martha's loss we
just felt there was a dog out there somewhere, waiting to come home with us.
We went looking for a medium-sized shaggy-haired female.
However, when our eyes fell on Jake, a large, male, border collie/shepherd mix, we just
knew he was THE ONE. Gypsy reacted to her new buddy with joy and excitement, and
began to act like the puppy she had been so many years earlier. She lived for
another year and half, and I believe she was more at peace with Jake in her life than she
had ever been before.
We bought Jake lots of squeaky toys and things to chew on, but over
the first week they all disappeared. One day I was sitting in our backyard
next to the rock garden where we had buried our dear Martha, wishing she could have had
the chance to know Jake. I noticed a rubber ball sticking out of the ground, and
with a little more digging exposed the rest of Jake's toys, all buried at Martha's
gravesite. It was clear Jake had offered his "gifts" to Martha in
appreciation, for it was she who had made a place for him in our lives, and in our
hearts. At that moment I knew that Jake and Martha had met, when Jake had said
"Thank you" and Martha had answered, "Welcome home, Jake. "