Day 30 - Pets

First day of my blog challenge, and its being posted a day late. No, I am not a good blogger!

The purpose of this challenge is to reflect on my life while in Dominica for the past 16 months. Moving here was hard for me, mainly because I was genuinely happy with our life in San Antonio - we were in the newly wed stage of life, we both liked our jobs, we had a good group of friends, we had two dogs that we treated like children, overall we had a pretty good routine - and frankly, I wasn't a big fan of leaving it all. I was a big fan of Blake getting into medical school and getting this opportunity, but I wasn't ready to give up my life. It was hard, to say the least.

Neither one of us wanted to bring our dogs out to the island. We had Charlie, our shih tzu, and Fox, our Pomeranian-ish mutt. Fox was relatively easy to leave in the states. He was a little unpredictable and crazy, and I was pretty sure that if we brought him to Dominica he'd start killing local chickens and goats and whatever else he could, not because he was mean, just because he didn't know any better, and we didn't want to deal with that. And plus, he loved visiting Blake's parents ranch, so thats where he went to stay.

Charlie was a gift I gave myself when I graduated college - and he was my buddy. He was a puppy when I moved into my first "big-girl" apartment in Plano, where I started my first real job after college and was living alone for the first time. Blake and I dated long distance for two years and Charlie would be my driving pal - keeping me company for the 4 hour drives from Plano to College Station every other weekend, then the 5 hour drives from Plano to Houston, then 3 hour drives from San Antonio to Houston. He was my pal through that first awful job out of college, and then continued to be there for me through my journey through grad school. When we were preparing to move to Dominica, I had owned Charlie for close to 3 years and I was afraid of bringing him out to Dominica. I didn't know much about Dominica, and I felt like it was safer for me to leave him in Texas with my mom. That was probably the hardest part about moving here, leaving Charlie behind. 

Charlie - always serious

Fox - always happy

First semester we lived in a place that didn't allow pets, which wasn't a problem, because we didn't consider adopting one until after we moved apartments. Second semester, a stray cat gave birth to a litter of kittens on my friend Brandi's back porch, and Blake and I adopted one. I had never owned a cat, and figured that I wouldn't get too attached to it, but that maybe it would help fill the void of not having a pet with me on the island. Boy, was I wrong.

Meet Rosalie (aka - cute kitten sleeping on my pillow):

I quickly found out that I needed a pet in my life, and that I do much better when I have something around to love on - to pet, to play with, to just "be around" the apartment with me. Its not so lonely that way. I work from home, and having Rosalie sit next to me and "monitor" my progress throughout the day, follow me from room to room, take afternoon naps with me, is comforting. As a kitten, she slept on my pillow, and when she wanted me to wake up she would start purring in my face and kneading my hair, like you would knead dough. 

Rosalie monitoring me at work

Our plan was to take her back to the states with us, but that didn't work out. I dropped the ball on getting her shots in time, and it put us in a situation where we either needed to figure out a plan B to get her to the states or we needed to find her a good home. We were also having logistical problems with apartments. We weren't having any luck finding apartments in Miami that would allow two pets, without paying a ridiculous amount of money (since we wanted to take Charlie with us too). Luckily, one of my friends, a first semester spouse, volunteered to take her, so Rosalie will have a loving home to go to when we leave. And as a bonus, Erica has a little girl that will get to call Rosalie her pet. They are thinking about taking Rosalie back to the states with them too. Its all around a win-win situation. 

Rosalie has been an important part of my life for the past year. She will be greatly missed, but I know she will be taken care of and loved.

*A note if you are thinking about bringing a pet out to the island* I know now that it is completely do-able, and I have a couple of friends that have brought their pets and they have been just fine. There are a few vets too, and they do house calls. My friend Kristen's blog is a great resource if you plan on bringing your pet to the island.**