Fur The Love of Fostering

Once upon a time, but not so long ago when I was a rambunctious teenager (pictured above), I made a poor decision that resulted in the requirement of community service hours to be completed. I know…..scandal… I’ve got your attention now don’t I? *smiles* and no I’m not going to tell you what I did or didn’t do. It’s interesting to me looking back now that if i hadn’t made that poor decision, I might not have been as involved over the years with the shelter on and off until 2020 where I buckled down to full time volunteer as a foster home. Of course, that could just be me spinning it for good and trying to justify it somehow in my mind to make myself feel better. I’m not exactly a saint OBVIOUSLY with this confession. There were many options of locations and community service types that I could sign up for, of which, our local shelter was one. So, me being a huge animal lover, gravitated to the one that was most attractive to me. I’ll never forget my time as a growing young woman there as I dutifully completed my hours and the impact not only the staff but especially the animals had on me.

I showed up and was warmly greeted by the acting CEO who avidly invested her time in the shelter on a daily basis. She was tough, tenacious and even-tempered until you failed to put the mop bucket back where it went which I can say I never failed to do more than once. We all have our thing. She was a very strong woman that I grew to look up to along with many of the office staff and volunteers. They didn’t care that I was a result of a community service requirement, they were thankful I was there. They treated me with such kindness, fed me donuts on the weekends, encouraged my involvement with duties outside of those reserved for the community service volunteers and I will never forget the one time I emptied out the coffee pot to clean it in the morning….. let’s just say there were some long time volunteers there that needed their caffeine in the morning and that is the quickest I have ever set up a coffee pot in my life to brew.

My local shelter became a haven of safety and enjoyment for me during my most impressionable years. It was a place I could go to complete my hours at any time when I just needed to get away. Just like all teenagers, I liked to do my own thing and this was fast becoming “my thing”. I was eventually entrusted to help out with not only the shelter animals but the office duties as well as animal boarding which was commonly reserved for the non-community service hours staff only. Yes, I had a lot of hours to complete! After that I was expanded to grooming which was a personal favorite chore of mine not only for the chore itself but for the company of a special person I will lever forget. Old man Billy taught me that there was so much more I could do then just feed, water and clean. He taught me how to care physically for the animal’s appearance and absorb the joy of watching their demeanor change from that of one lacking in confidence to one that was ready to wag their tails as if they were the Queen and King of England waving to their esteemed patrons. And fur the love! SO MUCH FUR! everywhere! All.The.Time. It was the glitter of the animal kingdom, adorning me with its beauty.

Upon completion of my community service hours and successfully being released from the program, I simply kept showing up and continued until life’s events became too important or distracting for me to continue. On and off over the years, I would go back, usually when seeking the safety, solace and comfort the shelter provided me. Being there allowed me a constructive outlet, to focus, to concentrate, to breathe the fresh air of the country, to not be found if I didn’t want to be, to muddle things over in my mind while working with my hands, sooth my mind while petting a fuzzy or experience the joy when working with adopters and animals who completed their adoption. So, you see when people say “wow, you are so amazing”, “you are so inspirational” or “we need more people like you”, I’m really not and you really don’t.

I decided in 2020 that I needed to do more BUT it wasn’t selfless of me to do so. The truth of it is, I am a very selfish person. Life’s events have a way of still happening and it doesn’t matter where/when they happen or what they are, they need can still compound and creep up and they sure did in abundance over the last decade. 2020 was a very hard year for the entire world and I am not alone in saying this but it was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. So, I decided I wanted to do something about it and since I was working full time from home, I was limited as to my ability to volunteer at the shelter. That’s ok, I’ll just bring the shelter to me. Tah-Dah!!!! Fostering it is!

With 100% confidence I can say that I will continue to foster for as long as I can because it has been beyond rewarding and I am selfish. I enjoy having additional fur babies around me that I can dote on, love endlessly, work with and try to make as adoptable as possible while they are in my care. It is a piece of the haven of safety and healing in my own home that gives back to me in all the ways I need while I am hopefully contributing back to the animals in all the ways they need. It is not without its challenges, heartaches and tears, don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean to paint you a rosy picture and omit all the poo (so.much.poo!) But fur the love of fostering, I am here for it, will stay with it and ensure to expand on all the poo in a later post.

Thank you for reading my post, your time and remember, its OK to own to your mistakes. Sometimes it is for a greater purpose that we couldn’t see until we were there.