A Faery Tail: A Celebration

Once upon a time, there was a little puppy who had 5 brothers and sisters. Their names were

Ava

Callie

Lily

Rocket

Tank

and Timber

They were born in the spring of the year, and they were beautiful, sweet, and loving, just like fairy tale puppies. But when they were six months old, they were left alone at a truck stop to fend for themselves, like Hansel and Gretel (and Fritz and Heidi and Liesl and Karl) left in the forest.

Of course their fairy godmother was looking after them, since they not only were left together in a group, but after a few days of eating what they could find from dumpsters, a kind human collected them and took them to a magical place, Faery Tails Corgi and German Shepherd Rescue of St. Louis. There they met their foster mom, Rachel, who gave them their new names, fed them healthy food, bathed them, oh-so-patiently brushed and combed and cut the mud and burrs and mats out of their coats, and loved them.

When the puppies had seen the puppy-doctor and were all spruced up and well-fed, Faery Tails put their pictures and their story up at a special place in the magical ether where people who wanted new companions to love could see them and read about them.

And that is where I come into the story. Though neither magical nor from fairyland myself, still, when I looked into Timber's sweet, wistful face for the first time and read his story, my heart grew 3 sizes and I thought "It wouldn't hurt just to ask about him. He's so adorable, someone's probably got dibs on him already anyway."

Incredibly, magically, no one else had dibs on him. In a haze of love and fate, I filled out the application to adopt him. I talked to his foster mom, Rachel, on the phone. Someone came to look at my house and approve it as a suitable cottage for a fairy tale prince. I kept telling people, "If it's meant to happen, it will." I didn't really believe it would.

But just a few weeks after I first looked into his eyes in the magical ether, I drove Taenzer to the halfway point where we would meet Rachel and Timber. Taenzer and Timber played together and chased ducks at the stream. I signed the contract that said if something terrible were ever to happen that I couldn't keep him, I would make sure he got safely back to Faery Tails, and wrote out a check that didn't begin to cover the cost of his neutering, micro-chipping, shots, vet exam, feeding, and grooming. Rachel gave me his vet reports, and took some video of the two Ts playing together for the first time. We hugged each other, said farewell, and I drove home with Taenzer and Timber. Timber lay down on the back seat of the van and snoozed all the way. Seems it was meant to happen, after all.

Sometime around this time of year is his birthday. He's now four years old. My baby boy is a grown-up boy now, and so far, I think the ending of his fairy tale has been a happy one.

I often think of Ava, Callie, Lily, Rocket, and Tank, and hope that they had happy endings, too.

I love you, Mr. Timber, my magical puppy-boy.