17 Rescued Animals in 23 Years of Marriage
Approaching the second anniversary of Greg’s death next Monday, October 16, and our 25th wedding anniversary on Tuesday, October 24, I’ve been contemplating how best to remember him this year. And I come back to the animals we adopted over the 23 years of our marriage.
Greg and I rescued 17 animals altogether – eleven cats, four dogs, and two horses. Most we adopted through rescue organizations: the Peninsula Humane Society, Pets Unlimited (now merged with the San Francisco SPCA), and Home at Last Animal Rescue when we lived in the San Francisco Bay Area from 1993 through 2001; and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the SPCA of Northern Virginia, Lucky Dog Animal Rescue, Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation, and Siamese Cat Rescue Center when we lived in Virginia from 2002 through 2015. The most challenging cases were Greg’s decision to take on.
Over the years, Greg and I said farewell to two of our dogs and six of our cats, and shed plenty of tears together over these losses. Our dog Itchy and cat Margaret outlived Greg, but joined him just before his birthday in early June of this year.
Seven animals Greg and I adopted together still live with me – Marina dog; Perseus, Kongzi, Qingling, and Meiling cats; and horses Henry and Caroline – along with Charlie, who was the first animal I adopted on my own, after channeling no small amount of inspiration from Greg.
Many of my friends know the stories of my more recent adoptees, but the early adoption stories may be less familiar. Over the next two weeks, I plan to share these adoption stories on this Greg Fund blog and Facebook page. Most of our animals were individual rescues, while a few came in pairs.
Today, I begin with this collage of all 17 of Greg’s and my furry kids – from the cat named Sticky we adopted a few weeks after our wedding, to horses Henry and Caroline we adopted the year before Greg’s untimely death.
~ Alysoun