Two Years of Furballin'.

Today it is two years since these sweet eyes have found mine for the first time.

I will never forget that moment.

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I had arrived at the Animal Rescue Foundation near Fossil a few minutes prior, full of anticipation. My trip into the beautiful canyon in the Ochocos in Eastern Oregon had one purpose:

Meeting Buford, to find out if I could adopt him.

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Taking a dog into my life had been a long time coming. And yet, it came to me as quite a shock when I realized about a year before meeting the rascal that I am... and this may sound weird... old (or, mature? stable? committed? responsible?) enough to finally fulfill this longheld dream of mine. It felt incredibly empowering to shift from "I cannot have a dog due to... school, the house, money, blahblahblaaaah" to... "holy shit, if I am actually serious about this I can make it happen".

That shift is/was hands down one of the key moments in my life.

And it continues... it seems as if I have been stumped in my development somewhere... I often feel as if I have to "ask" someone else if I can go forward with something. Particularly when the "go forward" seems solely for my pleasure; like, for instance, getting a dog.

Turns out that getting Beefy wasn't just for pleasure.

Taking Buford into my life has made me - and continues to make me - a more whole human being.

I laugh more.

I move more.

I am calmer.

I touch more.

I look more closely.

I am more understanding.

I giggle more.

I am more playful.

I relate more.

I feel more at home, wherever I am.

And I take more photos. :)

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Back at ARF I met Sandy, who later became a treasured friend of mine. We had been emailing. I had asked her if that clown-like looking dog that I had seen on Petfinder may be a fit for my needs. Meaning if I could take him along on Wilderness Therapy Expeditions. And that I lived in a van (and couldn't provide a fenced backyard, however was going to live a life in and about nature with my future dog). Her response had sounded as if she had waited for someone like me to inquire for Buford. (Which differed greatly from the response I got at the local Humane Society. The people there didn't understand my lifestyle. I also didn't really connect to any of the caged up dogs, bless their hearts.)

Nonetheless, I was nervous.

It felt like such a leap.

Buford wasn't around upon my arrival. But there were tons of other dogs swirling around me.

Sandy told me that Buford was up at the nursery with Jerry. They were about to come back.

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Eventually the white van made it's way back to us. Several dogs were running behind it.

My eyes searched for the dorky face I had seen online.

"Will I recognize him?" I wondered.

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There! "Buford!" Our eyes met. That split second was it. Sandy later said that Buford and I "velcroed" right away. I didn't know at the time, but felt that something big was happening. When we took a walk with Buford and some other dogs he kept making eye contact with me and staying close.

It felt like coming home right then.

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I have felt that way uncountable times in the meanwhile.

To this day I whisper to B on a regular basis: "I cannot believe that I have a dog in my life...".

Even though my life has been crazy over these last two years I feel I have been more grounded than I ever have.

I remember worrying that I couldn't provide B with a life as good as he's had at ARF.

Now I understand that he needed something that he couldn't have had at ARF.

He needed a person the way I needed a dog.

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To many more amazing and adventurous years Little One!!