It will all work out in the end. It’s such a cliche phrase. I admit that I tend to internally roll my eyes when I hear or read the words that everything will be okay. Life isn’t always that simple. The stars don’t always align. Things don’t always find their own way of working out. Sometimes things are just not okay.
This weekend I’ve experienced something that could easily lend itself toward stars aligning. Last fall I lost my shih tzu of sixteen years. His name was Ozzy and he was the most precious and perfect pet a gal could ask for. Just after his passing I had this irrational fear that I will never, ever find a dog that loved and adored me as much as Ozzy did. I was his moon and stars. I was his sunshine. He always wanted to be where I was. He comforted me when I was down and was pure joy when I was up. Losing him was devastating to me.
I should also add that the husband and I have chosen not to have kids. Our dogs are our kids. I’m a dog mom. They go everywhere with us and if our dogs are not invited then we will usually decline the invitation. We also have a Great Dane named Regulus who has always been more inclined to fawn over my husband than me. When Ozzy passed Regulus became very attentive with me. He instinctively knew that I was grieving, that Ozzy was gone, and that I needed him to love me too. I’m thankful for that, but in the past three months I’ve started to look for another shih-tzu.
The hunt for a new dog is fairly easy. They’re everywhere. I had a specific want in mind though. I love shih tzu’s. I love their attitudes and the temperaments. I love their little smooshed in faces. I love their fluffy ball of fur-ness and their quirks. We kept checking shelters and a shih tzu never showed up when we were looking. We looked into breeders around the state of Texas who wanted upwards of $900 for a puppy. There is no way we could afford that for a dog right now. I watched craigslist adds for months as well, to no avail. Warning: There is a 50/50 chance that any craigslist add is a scam. I idly wonder who has time to do this scamming in their spare time, the why of it and what that person gets out of it. I ran into a lot of scams.
Amazingly enough, craigslist is where I found a local shih-tzu breeder who I will call A. I had written many emails to breeders and come up short so I hesitantly wrote another one to A, who had advertised two puppies on craigslist. I explained that we couldn’t afford a crazy amount of money, told her about Ozzy and how much we love the breed and would love to give another shih-tzu a very loving home. Within a minute of sending the email she sent a reply asking me to call her to talk about the price. When I called, she said that my email had spoken to her and while the puppies from the add I had seen were spoken for, she would sell me one from the next litter for whatever I could pay. I couldn’t believe it. I was overjoyed.
A month passed. I continued to look at ads and check the local shelter to no avail. Then, just this past Friday A called me. She told me she had a litter and I could pick from two boys if I was still interested. I WAS STILL INTERESTED! So we’re getting a little brown shih tzu and I’m so excited. She told me he would be ready to bring home on May 11th. I could not believe it because that is my birthday. I’m literally getting a birthday puppy! It’s kismet. The stars aligned. What I was beginning to think would not happen, happened.
The husband and I have decided to name the puppy Malcolm, Mal for short, of Firefly/Serenity fame, because of his brown coat. Get it? I hope someone out there gets it.
The next time someone says things will work out, I’m going to try not to smirk so hard. I’m going to try not to let my eyes roll all the way up, maybe only 3/4 of the way. A small part of me is going to believe it… because sometimes it does happen. Sometimes things are just shiny.
Little Mal (the browncoat shih tzu) with mom and with brother.