Well... it started last night with going out to dinner with Drew's parents and then having Drew's brother and sister-in-law join us a bit later. It was so much fun and definitely a great start to my weekend. We went to Z Tejas, a restaurant I've never been to before, and it was sooooo good. The fabulous women of the table all ordered the same salad. It was deeee-lish! Anywho, definitely had a wonderful time, Drew and his family are great company. We shared lots of laughs and good stories about Drew as a kid... And yes Drew, I wanna see the video! But seriously, it was such a great night!
To continue with my weekend, this morning, I was greeted by wagging tongues. I woke up before the sun did to volunteer at an animal shelter, Friends for Life. I'm a dog caregiver, so my primary job is to play with the dogs, get them personalized, and of course, give them lots of love. I mean... it's Valentine's Day, what better day to give my love than Valentine's Day!
So I get there and am told first off that the dogs I was about to play with were previously abused by their owners. I learned that two of the dogs were chained in their backyard with no food, no water, no shelter. When they were finally rescued, they had broken ribs and one had a broken paw. Because they were beaten and so malnourished, the vets estimated that they wouldn't live. Fortunately, that wasn't the case. But because of their abused past, they're terrified of humans, terrified of contact... So of course, I got emotional. It was nothing less than heartbreaking, but I knew I had to do my best to have all the dogs warm up to me.
Most of the dogs came up to me with little hesitation. I think they could smell the treats I brought though... little rascals. For a few of the others, they sat quivering in the corner and didn't want anything to do with me. So I sat on the ground, indian-style, and let the dogs come up to me and smell me and kiss me. I played with the ones who were all over me, I mean, how could I not? The dogs sitting in the corner (the two brutally abused ones) still didn't want to come up to me, so I crawled a bit closer and laid down flat on the ground with treats in my hands and on my tummy. The dogs started to inch a bit closer and finally came up to grab the treats. I didn't touch them at first because I didn't want to startle or frighten them. Then... one of the dogs came up to smell my face and he licked me. He was warming up to me! I slowly sat up and started to pet him, oh my gosh, he was so sweet. This made the other dog come up and get friendly with me as well. After that, it was smooth sailing. We all played fetch and tug-of-war... took a few water and potty breaks. It was seriously the best morning.
I unfortunately couldn't stay there longer because I had to work, which is what I'm doing right now, so when I had to leave, I was really sad and started to tear up. The dogs were following me out... they were either escorting me because they wanted me out, or they wanted to come home with me... and for the sake of my feelings, I'm going to say they wanted to come home with me. :-)
If I could, I would have adopted all of them right then and there. I had the greatest time with them, although it certainly was difficult to be around dogs that were abused. I just don't understand how something like that could happen. It's horrible, inhumane and downright apalling.
Anyway, that's my story for now. After work, Drew and I are spending the day together - nothing too formal cuz of my Valentine Shmalentine attitude, but I'm definitely looking forward to spending time with him. We're gonna play catch, throw the football around and all that good stuff... I'm super excited!
I hope everyone has an amazing Valentine's Day full of love! And please, I urge you ALL to consider volunteering at your local animal shelter. It is so rewarding, you feel great knowing that you made a difference in an innocent life's day. So, please, do some good for the animals and for yourself! ♥
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