Bella’s Story
Bella – the inspiration for Bella’s Backyard Buddies.
The first thing that I noticed about Bella on that day was her beautiful, albeit it, very sad eyes. We first met at the Castaic, California Animal Shelter on a day that changed both of our lives forever. There are many details of that day that are forever etched on my heart and my heart is bursting with the desire to share them with you, but for now, I will share with you just a snippet of how this 10 year journey we have been on got started…
August 23, 2006….I was on my way to pick up the dog my daughters and I had chosen just 5 days before. We had spent those 5 days on pins and needles hoping that no other family would come to get the dog who we named “Bella”. We drove up in my daughter’s truck, leash in hand, ready for a new adventure. We got to the desk and gave the card to the shelter worker. But wait, did he say that “our dog” had been picked up by her family just yesterday???? Hmmm…. Well, I thought… we can’t go home without a dog…… so we began that journey down the row of sad eyes, excited tail wagging and “pick me, pick me” barking…….. Then I saw her….. the most beautiful dog I had ever seen….. red hair (I am partial to red hair), brown eyes and a look that simply said, “I’m the one”……I continued to walk down the aisle, but that dog had pierced my heart. Much to my surprise, my daughter called out to me and said, “Hey, Mom… what about this one?” When I turned around she was standing in front of THAT dog…. and as it turned out, a family was supposed to come for her and they never came back to take her home. Coincidence? Not a chance…… Divine intervention? Perhaps……
I sit here today surrounded by the memories of all that Bella and I have learned together…. we have cried together…. laughed together…. learned new lessons and relearned some old ones…. we have created a life together and I will be sharing some of those memories in future posts to come….. We hope you will join us in remembering the times past and creating new adventures every day……..
Talk soon.
