My Day

Wow... what a day! But before I go there I need to back-up a few weeks to New Years. You know how it is right? Every year we make a New Year's Resolution ... and without a doubt about mid-January that resolution is swept under the rug, edited, forgotten, or kicked out the door...literally! Well not this year! My resolution has been to become more of a morning person, without becoming more of a coffee person!

So let's fast forward to today, this morning actually. This morning I had the great opportunity to not sleep in, as much as I dearly wanted to, but to get up at 7:30, get ready and volunteer for the Whitman County Animal Shelter who was moving locations. Now this morning was not one of those Pullman mornings that I have come to know and love, where the sun is shinning, welcoming the golden hills into existence... No this morning was cold, dull, grey, and ...raining. This was not my idea of the perfect morning mood! But none the less I did get ready, and make my way down to the shelter.

As I approached the shelter with Jamie my wonderful accomplice who helped to keep me motivated through the rain, (that wasn't really rain it was that drizzle that is barely enough to get you wet but just enough to be annoying) the mud, and the cold that was slowly sinking in. Once we got settled in we found ourselves moving equipment, toys, bowls, food, etc. into nearby trucks. When we were sought out... we were the lucky winners that got to clean the transport kennels, and the litter boxes... yes ...I said it ....the litter boxes.

But you know what I came to realize as we were shuffled into the back kennel to scrub away? I found that no matter how unglamorous a job, it still needs to be done. This was a job that had to be completed and I was not going to let the team down. But I think the best part of this job was that in this back kennel was 2 small puppies. Probably black lab puppies, who were probably the cutest things on the planet!

Now as I found myself looking down at these two puppies all I could think was, "This is for them, to make their lives better." These animals didn't choose to be here, they didn't do anything wrong. What I later found out was that these 2 puppies were apart of a 4 puppy litter that had been dropped off. All four are not social and that explained why they wouldn't walk up to the front of the kennel. The woman began to explain that because they are not social they are not adoptable and that's why they need volunteers.

After about a 45 minute wash session, walking back and forth in front of this kennel I watched something that was not expected. I had knelt down and just talked to the two of them and I watched as one got up and walked to me. There it was... Hope... hope that there was a future, that this was not the end of their journey, that this was not going to be their home but just someplace they were passing through. It was at that moment that I didn't care anymore. I didn't care that it was barely 40 degrees outside and I was soaked, I didn't care that my hair was a mess, and that my make-up was gone. It wasn't about me... this was never about me.

My day was one that involved soul searching, and re-assessing my values. But one thing that I will never forget is that we have to believe that nothing is set in stone, there is always something better. We have to believe that we can make a difference.