Chris and Carrie share with us their very personal and touching story about how fate led them to Joan, a.k.a. Grandma Jones:
Last May, my husband and I spent the weekend in San Francisco for our 26th wedding anniversary. We had been going through a rough time in our marriage and had been living separately for several months, but we felt it was important to be together that weekend.
That Saturday morning we went for a walk through Crissy Field, and there we saw a large pet fair set up. On a whim, we walked over to look around and saw this little black dog sitting quietly on the grass. My husband sat down next to her to say hello, and as he did she put her paw on his leg so that he would pet her. We turned to the girl working there and asked whether this was a nice dog, and her reply was “Oh, that’s Grandma Jones…she’s my favorite”. So we spent a few minutes petting Grandma Jones, but eventually we pulled ourselves away saying we must be crazy to even think about getting a dog, given that we didn’t even live together at the time.
So off we went to get on with our day, but we talked about Grandma Jones all afternoon. Should we or shouldn’t we….was it fate or were we crazy? In the end we decided to leave it up to chance: If Grandma Jones was still at the pet fair when we headed back to our hotel that evening, we would take her home. If she was gone, then it wasn’t “meant to be”.
As the clock neared 5PM, we headed back towards Crissy Field, both of us secretly hoping Grandma Jones would still be there but neither of us wanting to voice our hopes. By that time of day, most of the vendors at the fair had already packed up for the night, so she was easy to spot. There across the field we could see Grandma Jones still sitting on the grass, one of the few dogs left behind.
Fate had decided for us – we were meant to have this dog.
That was a year ago, and we’ve been in love with this little girl ever since that first day. We re-named her Joan, a name befitting a little old lady, and she has been a loving, healing presence in our lives every single day.
As for us, my husband and I are now living together again with Joan by our side every day. She is the sweetest, most gentle little dog, and we like to think that she was sent to us for a reason!
5/14/14
Are you the proud parent of a Muttville dog? Send us your story! Include three of your favorite photos and send it to success_stories@muttville.org with the subject line 'Success Story'.
