When the House Felt Like Home Again

I spend a lot of time looking at those ears from behind these days, wondering how we ever managed without her.

After our kids left the nest and took their pets with them, our house suddenly didn’t feel quite like home to me anymore. All that beautiful energy seemed to disappear overnight, leaving behind a quietness I wasn’t prepared for—and an emptiness in me, too.

I wanted to bring a pet home, but I had promised myself I would wait a few months. I needed some time to adjust and settle into this new phase of life.

There was no harm in looking, though.

At least, that’s what I told myself.

I figured it would give us time to think about the qualities we wanted in a dog and which breeds might be a good fit. So I searched and kept journaling about it, writing down the qualities we hoped to find.

After a few months, we began applying to adopt. There were several near misses, and after a while we started wondering if maybe it just wasn’t meant to be.

Then my husband got the phone call.

It was a rescue where we had previously applied for a particular dog, only to learn that someone else had already claimed her. As it turned out, the adoption had fallen through at the last minute. They asked if we would be willing to foster her while they searched for a permanent home.

Well, that didn’t take long.

We brought her home and adopted her that same week.

Life hasn’t been the same since.

With her warm blonde coat, fun-loving personality, and affectionate nature, she’s a little ray of sunshine wherever she goes.

She’s the first one in the truck when we ask if she wants to go for a ride. It doesn’t matter where we’re going or how long we’ll be gone. Sometimes she rides with her head out the window. Other times she sits like a human passenger, quietly watching the road ahead.

She never seems concerned about where we’re going.

She’s just happy to be going.

I think she may also be the most patient dog I’ve ever met. She loves her routines, but when things don’t happen exactly when or how she expects, she doesn’t complain. She simply waits.

She always wants to know where her people are, content to be near us and even happier when there’s an opportunity to cuddle. It's become clear that somewhere along the way, she fell for us, too.

At the end of each day, when she finally settles into her sleeping spot, she lets out one long, undulating moan.

My husband is a bagpiper, and the sound always reminds me of the air slowly being squeezed out of the bag. It’s as though she’s releasing whatever little bit of energy she has left from the day before settling in for the night.

There’s something I love about the way she moves through life.

A ride in the truck is exciting simply because she gets to come along. A walk is something to look forward to. Being near the people she loves is reason enough to be content. And when things don’t go exactly as planned, she waits patiently for whatever comes next.

She seems to find an extraordinary amount of happiness in very ordinary things.

Maybe that’s what I’ve been noticing most since she came into our lives.

Joy doesn’t always arrive as some big event.

Sometimes it’s walking just a few feet ahead of you on four little paws, with its ears bouncing all the way.