A Peach

“When are we getting another dog?” my son asked. 

His question seared my heart because we had lost Riley only two days before and losing a beloved companion, a dog with such presence, had left me reeling.  It wasn’t that I had not thought of having another dog; when you have a dog whose health is as precarious as Riley’s was, you consider the idea of what you will do when she finally loses her life’s battle and there was never a question, or even a doubt, about getting another dog.  But not yet.  I explained gently to my sad four-year-old that we needed to spend time thinking about the dog we had loved and lost before we could welcome a new life to our home. 

“But Mom, we are a two dog, one rabbit family.  We need to get another dog.” 

Time went by, and by some people’s standards it wasn’t much time, only weeks.  But this is what I knew for sure about Riley: She was a shelter dog.  She and her littermates were found next to a dumpster in Virginia, six weeks old, alone, without their mother.  Someone had left them with the garbage, had thrown them away, and this puppy who had once been so unwanted and unloved became one of our best friends.  In my mind, there is no better way to honor her life and the impact she made on our lives than to find another shelter dog for our family.  We understood that any new dog would not fill the hole that Riley left, but we also understood that the grief we feel over the death of a loved one can be tempered by new life, by new adventures. 

So it is in loving memory of Riley that we introduce another shelter dog to our family circle.  This is Ginger, or “Ginny”, who hails from Georgia, where her mom and littermates were due to be euthanized, but instead will all find homes in New York this holiday season.   I think Riley would approve.