This story made my eyes well up with tears and my heart ache with loneliness.
"I’m sorry,
Wiggles.
I was only a child and
the rules set by my parents I had to abide by. How they felt a dog should live
was not my desire.
In fact, I cried over
you. To this day I still have occasional dreams of you outside in the elements,
alone. I see you in the cold basement. I remember you whimpering for human
contact, attention.
Perhaps you played a
role in shaping my character, mainly my fervor to aid creatures in need and
connect with them all via limitless love.
I remember one day
after grade school let out, climbing into our family station wagon to meet you,
a black-and-white Lab-mix pup. I vaguely remember that my mom saw you with
other pups in a newspaper ad by a local humane society. She picked you out. You
had a typical Lab personality, happy and energetic, and you earned the name
Wiggles because that’s what you did.