Sweet Little Ceci, you came into my life on April Fool's Day 2007. I adopted you on a Sunday. I remember it all as if it were yesterday.
I just had to have you. I was not looking for you. I spotted you
over the railing at the shelter the week before--another Sunday.
You side-glanced at me with those big beautiful eyes--showing the
extra whites of your eyes--and you thumped your little tail so
excitedly. I found out you had just been surrendered that day. You
had lived the first twelve years of your life with two different members
of the same extended family--a mother and then her son--or vice
versa--somehow they gave you up--and somehow you and I both knew that
you would now be mine to love and to hold--to care for until the rest of
your life, dear Ceci Girl--to
make those golden years so much more special for you. Now it was your
turn to be taken for walks. No more reports to a shelter that you
were never walked much. Oh, I listened carefully to what they told me
as I signed your adoption papers--they said you had not been walked
much--and I knew that was all going to change for you, dear heart. So
they gave me a pink collar and a purple leash.
And I brought a camera, and the ladies were so happy to take our
pictures. I have never had human children, so I equate this magical experience to
what it must feel like to see one's newborn child for the first time or
to witness the arrival of an adopted child. I was simply on Cloud Nine! My very first doggie.
One that would not be separated from me by any kind of relationship
break up. One that would join my family and be a part of my very own
fur family. Thank you God, for my precious little Ceci Girl. My silly little April Fool.