Hara

So after a number of mad days (or has it been weeks) filled with phone calls, facebook messages, meetings, buckets of tears and sleepless nights...my doggie has a home. A beautiful new home out on a horse farm with paddocks to run in and chickens, cats, dog and horses to play with. It finally came together on Sunday afternoon when I scooped her matted hairy body into my arms and carried her to the car of a sweet Greek couple who had agreed to drive  her and me out to her wonderful new home.  She didn’t struggle at all. She knew she was safe and in the car she just leaned against me and nuzzled my ear. At the other end she wouldn’t get out of the car ...more carrying...then she sat in the farm yard while kittens and dogs came running up to greet her. She looked bewildered but calm as it all unfolded around her...I said goodbye to her under a table in the courtyard –she was stretched out, her heart beating wildly. I whispered in her ear just how much I loved her and she reached out one paw and put it into my hand.

Leaving her has been a bittersweet experience. I wanted to keep her desperately but I knew I had no home to offer her so to be able to find her a loving home out in the fields and away from the cars was both beautiful and painful. Painful only for the loss I feel not having her in my life but it's a beautiful pain when I think of where she is.
Her new name is Hara which means ‘joy’ in Greek. ( It actually means feces in Maltese but that does not lend itself to this story.)  And joy is exactly what she brings...what she brought to me over these past weeks together: painting circles, walking amongst the rocks, sitting paw on lap as I painted stones. It feels good to bring change into the life of someone you love.