Dear Piper:

My world had fallen apart.

My husband decided I wasn’t good enough anymore-that he was throwing away ten years of marriage to be with someone he’d known only a few months. I couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep and only got out of the house to go to work. My life, I thought, was as good as over.

You had already found a home when I answered the “Free to a good home” ad. I figured disappointment was par for the course, but left my number anyway in case it didn’t work out. Surprisingly, my phone rang two weeks later and your new home hadn’t worked because you wanted to lick the new baby in the face.

I loved you at first sight. You were so fat and furry, you looked like a little stuffed sheep. You hopped right up in the truck and licked me on the face as if to say, “Thanks Mom for coming to get me.”

Thank you, my sweet, quirky little boy, for the sight of your little paws on the side of the bed as you stood staring at me intently as if to say, “Quit feeling sorry for yourself Mom. It’s time to get up and play.” Or, on days when I was especially down and didn’t respond, you would poke me with your paw until I moved.

*Because of you, I got out of bed each day even when I didn’t want to because you wanted to play or go outside.
*Because of you, I went for walks in the park, because you needed the exercise.
*Because of you, my tears didn’t last long, because you licked them away as quickly as they fell.
*Because of you, I laughed again because you gave me no choice with your comical little ways.
*Because of you, I felt loved and needed again.
*Because of you, I am alive today because BEFORE you, I had lost the will to go on.

*Because of you, my fuzzy-faced little Pie-Pan, I stayed around long enough to meet and marry your new Daddy, who loves you every bit as much as I do. Our lives are blessed each and every day because we have you and I thank God for sending my little angel to me 3 years ago when I needed you the most.

I love you little boy,
Your Mom