Animal Rescue - The Love of a Lifetime

Hello dear friends. As I lie here preparing for another night of rest and comfort, I find myself looking back upon my youth and imagining my “might have been” life. You see I have spent the greater part of my years in a home filled with love and adoration; warmth and safety; and the unshakable knowledge that my heart, with all its imperfections, is joyfully intertwined with the heart of the little girl who is and will always be my sweet Annie. She is my owner, but more than that, she is my life. Without her, I am nothing; I am an empty shell. But with her, I know a bliss which elevates itself beyond words. She is my heart’s symphony, and I live for only one purpose – to love her. Any creature, regardless of their species, who finds themselves so connected to their beloved owners, understands the depth of feeling I find myself incapable of expressing with words. Words do not do justice to my love. And yet…..there was a time, so long ago I can barely believe it was ever part of my reality, when my life was vastly different.

When I was barely old enough to hold my head up, I was abandoned by my mother. I was left to rot in a rubbish heap in some dark, cold corner of the world. Why I had been left in such a place, I will never know, and I suppose within the grand scheme of things, it matters little. Times were dreadfully hard then, much as they are now. It was nothing back then in the Victorian Era for a mother or father to anonymously surrender their child at some doorstep or entryway leading to a respectable house or at least a sanitary hospital or halfway house; allowing other hands and hearts to raise or pass on whatever child they had brought forth. Some parents abandoned out of desperation, while others did it out of hope for a better life for their little ones. I was given no such chance. I was alone…bitterly and utterly alone, that is until a kind-hearted stranger found me and took me to safe haven where I was cared for and restored to health.

I was rescued, like so many other creatures have been. I was saved by the mercy of strangers who helped give a dying kitten a chance for a new life. When I was strong enough and old enough, I was given to a tender-hearted little girl named Annie who bestowed upon me a name fit for a king. I remember the very first day we met. It was though, without even knowing it, I had spent my whole life searching for her and she for me. When Annie held me in her arms, I knew it would be forever, and it was. “There we are my little man,” my sweet Annie had said, “I shall call you Mister Tiddleewinks Marmalade.”It was the grandest name I had ever heard. It was the only name I had ever heard, but it was mine; bestowed upon me by a heart that was as grand and large as the name given to her new, little kitten.

You might ask yourself why I have travelled down such a bittersweet road as I lie here in my comfortable bed. It is because there are so many more happy endings that have yet to be reached. For every single happy ending like mine, there are hundreds of other hurting, hopeful creatures waiting for their rescue. They are waiting for their chance to know what it feels like to have what I have; to be loved beyond measure by someone like you. Each person reading this post has the opportunity to be some animal’s happy ending. But remember, it takes two hearts to have a love affair. This is your happy ending as well. Please don’t wait. Contact your local shelter, rescue league, or animal good Samaritan, and prepare yourself for the love of a lifetime.