Having To Say...No

The trouble with posting 365 blog posts a year is that sometimes--many times--you write about the same things again and again. This isn't so much an excuse, more of an observation. Last Saturday I stopped by a pet store that had the "Adoptions Today" sign out front. I took a few pictures and thought it might be a good subject for a blog post.

Turns out, last year--almost to the day--I wrote about visiting a pet store when they had animals up for adoption. I scanned the post and much of what I wanted to say today I said then. Such is the downside to a daily blog.

But still, I think there's value in posting pictures of animals that need homes. Even if it might not help these particular pets, maybe someone out there might want to help an animal in need after reading these posts.

We keep thinking there's an animal out there that might one day join our family. If so it would have to be hypoallergenic, and many of the dogs up for adoption are not. I'm all for adopting animals from shelters--in fact, I prefer it. But many of the hypoallergenic dogs are usually pure breeds, and they cost big bucks. If we could take the mix-breeds, we would. There's just too many people with allergies in our house to have it any other way. So, we'll probably keep looking. If it's meant to be, it'll happen.

I wonder if, next August, I'll stop by a pet store or shelter and take a look. Maybe we'll find that pet who needs to be brought home.

Pet Adoption Day...Or A Better Title: Rip You Heart Out Day

"Lets go check out the animals," I said to my wife after I parked the car. We had to drive past the pet store on our way to the grocery store. Outside under a beautiful summer sky stood several cages and around them were gathered several people.

We knew what it was.

We'd seen it before.

Pet Adoptions...

Oh, the horror!

Still, what can it hurt to just go look? I thought.

I should not say those words--I should not even think those words. What can it hurt? Are you kidding me?

The answer is--lots, lots of hurt.

I believe the feeling one gets when looking into the eyes of an animal in search of a home is one of the shared experiences of every human on this planet. You remember doing it. You see the animal--be it dog, cat, bunny, even a reptile--and your mind races. Can I do it? Do we have the space? Are we allergic? You think of the trade-offs. There's a million things in the "No" column. Those things seem to dissolve right in front of you eyes when you look at the animal, leaving a big "Yes" as not only a reasonable choice, but one you desperately want it to be.

We have several pets, a dog and two cats--one of which we rescued and gave a home during the middle of a Utah January. And even though those eyes that stared back at me and communicated to my soul, I knew it was not to be. These beautiful, vulnerable creatures would call others their saviors.

We walked away, and to make matters worse, we had to drive by the same caged animals on our way home. A new group of potential adoptive parents now clustered around metal enclosures. I hope someone in the new group looked into those eyes and to them, the "Yes" overcame the "No." I sure hope so.