COFFEE SPOONS, DOG FOOD, AND THE REAL WORLD

What do you suppose it says when you stir your morning coffee with a sterling silver coffee spoon you just dipped dog food out of a can with?  Could  be connected to an email I sent to a friend at two a.m. asking her to cover for me today for the Reading Education Assistance Dog program at Ft. Sam Houston Elementary School, because I am close to burn out...seriously close.

The pages of my calendar can't contain the massive work to be accomplished.  Complaining about it won't lessen the burden or get the job done.  And then the true message for this morning would go unnoticed.

Sometimes we get so caught up in all the 'stuff' in our lives, that we forget what really is important. 

This little pup in the photograph belongs to no one.  Yet somehow with one email sent from a combat medic named Nicholas in Afghanistan to Soldiers' Angels ( http://www.soldiersangels.org/) to Facebook, this pup named Ashley and her puppy now belong to everyone!

"Hello everyone I'm PFC Miller a Medic out in Afghanistan.  I know you all do alot for our soldiers out here but there a special someone here where I'm stationed that we all care about and seems to be forgotten.  Her name is Ashley she's also got a one month old pup out here too.  I would appreciate if someone could make a care package for them and send it to me."

This soldier, whose job is saving lives of our sons, daughters, brothers, husbands asked for nothing for himself, only for a little stray dog in a war torn country that has brought love and a sense of home to him and his buddies.  They are feeding Ashley scraps from the chow hall and loving her; he describes her as "their guardian out here."

I sent out a plea and the response has been overwhelming.  From lovingpets4lovinghomes@yahoo.com, from a doctor in Malibu, CA, from Pets for Disabled Americans, Inc., from Over There, and from a female soldier named Summer also stationed in Afghanistan who learned of the pup from my Facebook.

Patsy, I received your email via other rescue folks like ourselves. I too am stationed in Afghanistan and I would like to have PFC Millers APO AE address so that I can assist if we are stationed close together, and also to have the address so that my friends can put boxes together for the soldiers and Ashley. So, if you have the time, Please forward me PFC Miller's mailing address and I will ensure that Ashley is taken care of. Thanks for all you do for the cause. Look forward to your response.

Very Respecfully,

Summer

 

Biscuits, treats, dog food and toys are already on there way to Afghanistan.  People care and that is what America is all about.  About the horrors in Haiti and about a little dog that brings joy to so many soldiers in a war zone on the other side of the world.

 

Please consider sending a small contribution through www.pennysfromheavenfoundation.org  by way of paypal, credit card or check.  Please put ASHLEY in the comment line and your contribution will go directly to assist Ashley and her pup and other dogs our soldiers have fallen in love with that need your help.  This is for the dogs, but more importantly for our soldiers who find solace, and companionship, and nonjudgemental love, a beakon of light, and maybe even a smile or two that will, at least for a moment, allow them to escape the environment in which they are imbedded.

 

It is by putting ourselves in another's shoes that we come to know and hold and sometimes absorb their pain and joy. 

 

So for today I will open the calendar again, ignore the panic, do those things that I can do, and make a fresh pot of coffee.

 

I for one would rather climb a mountain than crawl into a hole.

 

 

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"Pain is inevitable, but suffering optional."

M. Scott Pick

The Road Less Traveled

 
 

Could it be that I wrote this same friend