A Little Piece of Heaven

First, let me say thank you for all of the beautiful comments you left about the loss of our family pet, Boo, it truly touched my heart. It was a bit of a difficult weekend realizing all of the daily rituals, previously taken for granted, that Boo brought to our lives. The first time I returned home after losing her, I remembered the sound of the scamper of her feet on the wood floor, racing to greet us each time we returned. Each morsel of food dropped on the ground by our children (and me) would be followed by a "Boo" and she would quickly gobble it up- so many little memories for us to miss. With this loss weighing heavily on our minds, we made the decision to try to find another little dog to love. We started at the local animal shelter,wanting to rescue a dog. We said a prayer that we would be guided in choosing the right one. Without success we turned to the Bichon rescue- thinking this was the breed we'd like to adopt. No local Bichon's were available in our area. We then turned to the local online paper and found a Bichon-poodle mix that we thought was cute. Without any luck reaching the owner, we continued to research and found a new breed, a Coton de Tulear. We set an appointment with the owner. A few hours before the appointment we received a call back from the Bichon-poo owner. I explained that we had another appointment, but would like to see all of our options. I told of our loss and he asked what breed Boo was. I answered, "A maltese, terrier mix." "The reason I ask," he continued, "is that we also have a 9 week old maltese puppy - would you like to see her?" We agreed to meet- he was driving to my side of town for a family get together. We loaded up the kids and made a pact we would not make any decisions until we went to both appointments. Let me back track a moment and tell you about a special connection I have with my Grandmother who passed away 9 years ago. After my "Nana" who lived with us the last 6 months of her life, passed away, I noticed when life became stressful (I was the executor of her will) I would see multiples of the same number, whenever I would look at the clock, such as 11:11, 1:11, 2:22, 3:33, etc. I soon realized it was her way of letting me know things would be okay. I feel like I have her guidance when making big decisions and I see those repeating numbers, sometimes several times a day. The night we lost Boo, I washed my face and was heading to bed. I looked at the clock and 11:11 stared back at me. Now, my Nana was not really an animal lover, but somehow I knew my Boo was sitting at her feet and she would take care of her. Now, back to our puppy appointments. When meeting the Bichon-poo, I didn't feel the connection I had hoped for. I asked the owner if he had also brought the Maltese- "Yes, she's a little more expensive, so I didn't want to get her out of the car, if the price wasn't okay." I thought that was very polite of the seller, but I had to see all of my options. The minute we saw the little teacup size maltese I knew she was the one. However, we had agreed as a family that we would go to both appointments. After driving to North Phoenix to see the Coton, I again just didn't feel a connection. We asked when the Coton was born (something I didn't think to ask about the Maltese) and the owner said, January 1. It wasn't until we were driving away, empty handed, that I realized the birth date was 1/1/11- had I made a mistake? Despite the number connection, I had to follow my gut and quickly called the owner of the Maltese to let them know we were returning to purchase the little teacup. When I hung up the phone I looked at the clock and it read, "11:11" I knew, we were meant to have this little dog. When meeting up with the owner he provided her records, feeding schedule and instructions. Imagine my surprise when I looked at the birth date and saw, 1/15/11- not multiples of the same number, but my Nana's actual birthday! All day long we recited names that would honor my sweet Nana: Nan's, G.G (what my kids called their great grandmother), Agnus and Agi (my Nana's middle name), Maxi (Nana's first name was Maxine) Moe (Nana's maiden name was Stenmoe) and on and on. Nothing seemed to fit quite right. This morning, Mr. Right decided to weigh in our little bundle of joy- when the numbers on the scale read 1 lb 1.1 ounce, I picked her up and said, "you were just sent from heaven weren't you?" and the name "Halo" came to mind. And so here is my little piece of heaven, Halo...

she's the perfect little pocket sized puppy. Here she is bonding with Mr. Right...

I'm so grateful we found our little Halo and so grateful for the time we had with Boo. Love, Kelly.