This story was written by Nancy Latimer, who has sheltered her share of critters and spends her spare time volunteering at Hillsborough County Animal Services. She wrote this touching tale a couple years ago, but it is well worth printing. Her daughter held on to her photos of Scrappy and dug this one up for this blog article.
On the verge of getting a new puppy, I have been thinking a lot about the "puppy loves" I have had and lost on the way to this new time and new love in my life. About 15 years ago, after a divorce and the death of my parents, my kids found a small wire-haired mutt whom they promptly named "Scrappy". He was an adorable little fellow, young, mid-sized, just a lovely, kind little pup. We put an ad in the paper, but after a week or so, no claimers. I couldn't believe that someone wasn't missing this adorable little guy. My kids of course were ecstatic. But due to many situations, financially and otherwise, I told them that we would have to find "Scrappy" a home. We already had a few dogs, a couple of cats and a rat. At that time in my life I just couldn't take in any more.
We placed an ad in the Tribune to start screening potential families. Early on we got lucky. A wonderful family came out, a mom and her two young kids. Although I don't recall her name, I remember the family well. Her husband was an exterminator, and she was freaking out 'cause we had a rat for a pet. ( I might take this time to add that the rat had a house the size of a Chevrolet Cavalier in our living room. He was the love of my daughter's life.) Anyhoo...the family loved Scrappy, we loved the family, so basically, off they went. We kept in touch for a couple of months. It seemed as though everything was going fine, so we parted ways and allowed Scrappy to merge into his new life. We were informed that Scrappy's name has changed to Rocky, much to my daughters dismay. But, oh well.
Over the years, my daughter and I would just remember "Scrappy", or run a cross a picture of him, and she would always say "Mom, we made a mistake, we should have should have kept that one". And, to be honest...I always wondered if maybe she was right. He was indeed a special little dog. I must have heard my daughter say this 100 times over the years...and, she said it again a week or so before the phone call that I am about to tell you about, came in. A few months ago on a Saturday morning, I was taking a nap when the phone rang. I screened it, too lazy to actually get up and answer it. I couldn't hear everything from the start, but I did hear a woman say "if you have had this phone number for 14 years, then this call is for you". At that, I bounded to the phone and picked it up. It certainly drew my interest.
The woman introduced herself and said she was cleaning out some drawers and came across an ad that read something to the effect of, "little wire-haired mutt, young male", and I immediately said " You are "Scrappy's " mom!" She said, yes, she was indeed Rocky's mom". Apparently she was doing some housecleaning, and came across the ad that I had placed 14 years ago in the Tampa Tribune. She had since moved to another County, but had never lost the ad. She went on to say that her family had recently lost Rocky. I knew what she meant by lost, although I didn't ask her specifically how. She told me that for 14 years they had loved that dog with all their hearts. She took great pride in telling me that Rocky was never kenneled, if there were any trips to be taken, he went or he stayed with family. There were also stories about them bringing another pup into their lives, a pup that wasn't too keen on Rocky. She would stand over the both of them at dinnertime with a flyswatter, and lightly smack the "ogre" of a pup that disliked Rocky, so he could eat his dinner quietly as he grew older and couldn't quite fend for himself as well as he once had. I could just hear the love in her voice as she talked about Rocky...my heart ached for her. She told me that she had just wanted me to know that Rocky had been loved immensely. And she told me that if I had another one just like him, she would be over in a minute to grab him. I could tell she was grieving. And I knew, all to well, the hurt she was feeling.
As the conversation continued, I shared with her the fact that over the years my daughter continued to give me grief because we were not able to keep "Scrappy". And I told her of the favorite line that was used...."Mom, I think we made a mistake......" As we shared some tears toward the end of the conversation, I told her that I finally had an answer for myself wondering if indeed, maybe I had made a mistake concerning not keeping "Scrappy". And, the answer was ..I had not. "Scrappy" was EXACTLY where he was supposed to be. He was loved forever by EXACTLY WHO was supposed to love him. There had been no mistake made. "Scrappy" had lived his life exactly WHERE HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE. I felt bad when the conversation ended. The woman and I had bonded after a 15-minute conversation that covered 14 years, and a few shared, but short memories. Our families were raised...life was going on, but for a few minutes, we were both brought together again in joy, thanks to a "little wire-haired mutt".
After calling my daughter and sharing the tears with her, I sat back and replayed the part of the conversation that was left on my recorder before I got up to answer the phone. In fact, I replayed it several times. I sat in wonderment of a pup that had 2 families love him for all of his life. The great little pup who provoked a woman to pick up a phone after 14 years, just to call and say thank you for giving her family a pup to love.
Rest in peace, Scrappy...you were indeed loved…and certainly missed.......
On the verge of getting a new puppy, I have been thinking a lot about the "puppy loves" I have had and lost on the way to this new time and new love in my life. About 15 years ago, after a divorce and the death of my parents, my kids found a small wire-haired mutt whom they promptly named "Scrappy". He was an adorable little fellow, young, mid-sized, just a lovely, kind little pup. We put an ad in the paper, but after a week or so, no claimers. I couldn't believe that someone wasn't missing this adorable little guy. My kids of course were ecstatic. But due to many situations, financially and otherwise, I told them that we would have to find "Scrappy" a home. We already had a few dogs, a couple of cats and a rat. At that time in my life I just couldn't take in any more.
We placed an ad in the Tribune to start screening potential families. Early on we got lucky. A wonderful family came out, a mom and her two young kids. Although I don't recall her name, I remember the family well. Her husband was an exterminator, and she was freaking out 'cause we had a rat for a pet. ( I might take this time to add that the rat had a house the size of a Chevrolet Cavalier in our living room. He was the love of my daughter's life.) Anyhoo...the family loved Scrappy, we loved the family, so basically, off they went. We kept in touch for a couple of months. It seemed as though everything was going fine, so we parted ways and allowed Scrappy to merge into his new life. We were informed that Scrappy's name has changed to Rocky, much to my daughters dismay. But, oh well.
Over the years, my daughter and I would just remember "Scrappy", or run a cross a picture of him, and she would always say "Mom, we made a mistake, we should have should have kept that one". And, to be honest...I always wondered if maybe she was right. He was indeed a special little dog. I must have heard my daughter say this 100 times over the years...and, she said it again a week or so before the phone call that I am about to tell you about, came in. A few months ago on a Saturday morning, I was taking a nap when the phone rang. I screened it, too lazy to actually get up and answer it. I couldn't hear everything from the start, but I did hear a woman say "if you have had this phone number for 14 years, then this call is for you". At that, I bounded to the phone and picked it up. It certainly drew my interest.
The woman introduced herself and said she was cleaning out some drawers and came across an ad that read something to the effect of, "little wire-haired mutt, young male", and I immediately said " You are "Scrappy's " mom!" She said, yes, she was indeed Rocky's mom". Apparently she was doing some housecleaning, and came across the ad that I had placed 14 years ago in the Tampa Tribune. She had since moved to another County, but had never lost the ad. She went on to say that her family had recently lost Rocky. I knew what she meant by lost, although I didn't ask her specifically how. She told me that for 14 years they had loved that dog with all their hearts. She took great pride in telling me that Rocky was never kenneled, if there were any trips to be taken, he went or he stayed with family. There were also stories about them bringing another pup into their lives, a pup that wasn't too keen on Rocky. She would stand over the both of them at dinnertime with a flyswatter, and lightly smack the "ogre" of a pup that disliked Rocky, so he could eat his dinner quietly as he grew older and couldn't quite fend for himself as well as he once had. I could just hear the love in her voice as she talked about Rocky...my heart ached for her. She told me that she had just wanted me to know that Rocky had been loved immensely. And she told me that if I had another one just like him, she would be over in a minute to grab him. I could tell she was grieving. And I knew, all to well, the hurt she was feeling.
As the conversation continued, I shared with her the fact that over the years my daughter continued to give me grief because we were not able to keep "Scrappy". And I told her of the favorite line that was used...."Mom, I think we made a mistake......" As we shared some tears toward the end of the conversation, I told her that I finally had an answer for myself wondering if indeed, maybe I had made a mistake concerning not keeping "Scrappy". And, the answer was ..I had not. "Scrappy" was EXACTLY where he was supposed to be. He was loved forever by EXACTLY WHO was supposed to love him. There had been no mistake made. "Scrappy" had lived his life exactly WHERE HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE. I felt bad when the conversation ended. The woman and I had bonded after a 15-minute conversation that covered 14 years, and a few shared, but short memories. Our families were raised...life was going on, but for a few minutes, we were both brought together again in joy, thanks to a "little wire-haired mutt".
After calling my daughter and sharing the tears with her, I sat back and replayed the part of the conversation that was left on my recorder before I got up to answer the phone. In fact, I replayed it several times. I sat in wonderment of a pup that had 2 families love him for all of his life. The great little pup who provoked a woman to pick up a phone after 14 years, just to call and say thank you for giving her family a pup to love.
Rest in peace, Scrappy...you were indeed loved…and certainly missed.......
