Many kind people have asked me to follow up on my Diary of last week.
That Diary was intended as a tribute to my dog, Chubby, on the first anniversary of his passing.
The world seemed very grim and lonely to me on the morning of January 24, 2014.
My Buddy had died the morning before.
Many people, including my parents said, "Well, Levi, you can get another dog."
They didn't seem to get it from where I stood.
No dog was going to replace my dog. No one understood where Chubby was in my perspective of life.
We had, in fact, grown up together. When I got him, I was seven years old and he was seven weeks old.
I totally resisted the idea of another dog.
My grandmother, I guess through "The Grandmother's Jungle Telegraph" found a family in Miami with a litter of Pekinese puppies that were four weeks old. That is almost 100 miles away.
She can be a tough lady!
A week after poor Chubby's passing, she came over and just said: "Levi - Get in the car."
It didn't help to say, "Gramma - I'm online doing school"!!!
Her reply was: "It will be there when you get back, now sign-off."
A trip to Miami is a rare event to me. It is massive. My town has 400 people and no traffic lights. Still it was Barron Collier's "Headquarters" when he built the Tamiami Trail through the Everglades connecting Miami and Tampa in the 1920's. It became the prosperous County Seat of Collier County until the mid 1960's when the Court House was moved to Naples.
My grandmother knows her way around Miami and the home of Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez was quickly found.
There were three little boys and one little girl.
I tried to resist interest...but it was impossible. I picked up one little boy and he tried to chew my finger...I told him he was a tuffy.
That was to be his name. We could take him home in four weeks.
I felt good. But I felt bad that it seemed like I was disrespecting Chubby.
Several days later, a lady in town, whom I knew just to wave at, sent me an email that she had found a Pekinese online at a shelter in Fort Lauderdale. The email included a picture.
She had gotten my address, I found later, from someone in our store.
I showed it to my dad when he got home. All he said was: "Let's go get him."
Leo entered my life.
He had some problems, but those were handled. He is a quiet well mannered boy. He is physically bigger and heavier than Chubby and is a light brown sugar tan.
It is impossible to tell what his real name was as he was found on the street by Animal Control and later turned over to the shelter. The shelter called him Leo, as Pekinese are sometimes called "Lion Dogs".
But it is very interesting that lately we noticed that he responds if he hears the word "happy".
So, maybe his name was "Happy".
I still did not have Tuffy! But now I had a big brother for him.
Years before my parents had applied to be adoptive parents.
Out of the blue they received an invitation to come to Hollywood, Florida to see and meet a two and a half year old boy in need of a permanent home. He had been placed with foster parents who had five children of their own.
Seth turned out to be an amazing little boy.
Our Quaker organization made the adoption easy and within a few months, I had two dogs and a little brother!
Seth and Tuffy ended up fast friends. Perhaps, because they were both babies. They have become inseparable. Tuffy has to sleep next to Seth. And listens patiently while my mom reads Seth's bedtime story.
Tuffy was supposed to be mine, but I loved it when he bonded to Seth like Chubby had to me years earlier.
I do not go into our store often.
One day I took Leo with me and a customer said "a neighbor has one of them "smashy" face dogs like that one that barks and whines all night".
I found out where he lived and went to see.
It was a dark red Pekinese PUPPY! I guessed about four months old. He was in the carport alone. He was very friendly and dirty and thin.
I knocked on the door.
It was answered by an elderly lady who was suspicious.
I asked about the dog. Her friend had left it with her. She didn't allow dogs in the house. I said he did not have food or water. I asked her if I could have him.
She told me to tell my father to come and see her.
I called him right there on my cell and had him come over.
It turned out that years before she had been his teacher.
I went home with Jake. I had him in the garage cleaning him up. Dirt and fleas and scabs and stickers. My dad took one look and said: "That baby is sick."
He called the vet in Naples and we took him.
Our vet stabilized him and later took him to the animal hospital where he received four days of intensive care. A day more the vet said and he would not have survived.
He came out fine and joined the "menagerie".
Now we had three dogs and I had a little brother.
Jake has a personality and does things that so remind me of Chubby. But, at the same time he is his own "man". He bonded to me and I take him everywhere.
It feels good. It feels like Chubby sent him to me.
Leo has bonded with my mom and dad and watches TV with them. When instead, they just read, he sits quietly with them after he gets a little treat.
They say that God never takes away without giving back.
2014 was a year that began very badly.
But I must say, that through the year I was truly blessed beyond my wildest dreams.
So, I think, to anyone who is down or sad for any reason, believe in miracles. They are real and they happen!