Soulfire and Souljoy, A girl and her angel-dogThere was a time in my life when I judged people that were so attached to their dog. I would think to myself, “What’s wrong with you? Get a life, find a human companion.” I used to be very harsh. Then along came Karma. I was going through a dark time in my life a few years ago, one of the toughest. I cried every day for a year straight and the next year was still in a deep depression. It took me a 40 week spiritual retreat, lots of self-help and almost three years to get over a man that I thought was my soul mate and lifetime companion. Looking back now I can see that him walking out on me really saved me; I would have completely lost myself. At the time, however, I was a heartbroken mess.

My daughter, Aiyana, who was 16 at the time wanted a mini weiner dog. As we had always rented apartments we were never allowed to have a pet. This was the first time in our life that our landlord said yes to getting a dog. My daughter was so excited and I was just hoping that a puppy might bring some sort of happiness back into my life. We googled mini daschunds and found a rescue shelter in Pennsylvania. I called and spoke with the woman there who said there was a litter of four mini daschunds that were abandoned by the mother. They only knew that the mother was daschund, they did not know about the father. I couldn’t believe it; I got the chills up my spine. I said to her, “just like me.” I was given up for adoption by my birth mother at birth and my father was unknown. Talk about serendipity!

Soulfire and SouljoyWhen we brought her home she fit into the palm of my hand, she was 8 weeks old and 3 lbs. Technically she was my daughters dog, but being a teenager, well, you know how that goes. When my daughter turned 18 she moved down to Georgia to live and go to college. I kept Karma until she missed her and wanted her back. I let her have Karma for 5 months from Nov 2012 to May 2013, and that’s when I realized what an impact that little dog actually made in my life. I thought that not having the responsibility of not only a kid, but now not even a dog would set me free to live a spontaneous, adventurous and fun life filled with long wild nights.  (A girl can dream right!)  Actually the opposite was true. There was no fun adventure in my life, I sat home and cried everyday for a month straight. I missed that dog so much. I had one of those “ah hah” moments and thought this is how people feel about their dog. (I will never make fun or judge anyone again about their attachment to their dog.)

soulfire and karmaTo make a long story short, Karma is back with me after 5 long dreary months.  I am amazed at how much better I feel with her around. I bring her everywhere! She comes to my yoga classes, to some of my clients houses, she assists me when I do Thai yoga massages by giving my dog loving clients kisses and extra love.  She is a very intuitive, healing therapeutic being. She still comes over to me and puts one paw on my leg and the other on my chest when I start to get upset and angry and about to lose it. She just looks me in the eye and I immediately calm down. They say the dog is just like the owner.  Karma is soulful, playful, healing and loving, as I am, but I think she’s got the whole key to life down better than me.

My daughter also cried giving up Karma, but we remedied the situation by finding her a new puppy, who she named Buddha.

The truth is Karma is the one who really rescued me. She helped me to keep my heart open when all I wanted to do was shut down and give up. She brought me unconditional love, loyalty and joy. I am so grateful to have this little angelic being in my life . She is my Souljoy.