Thank You!

Jennifer Vanderau
Cumberland Valley Animal Shelter

(7/2021) Yes, you.

You have done so much for me and mean the world to me.

Thank you for taking me in. For seeing something in me that no one else did. For taking a chance on a pretty sad-looking creature and looking past the outside. I know I was a mess, but somehow you saw only potential.

Thank you for providing for me. For giving me good food and proper vet care and making sure my life is a healthy one.

Thank you for going slow with me. It’s been a tough couple of years, shuffled from place to place, sometimes being out on the streets. I don’t trust easily. I’ve kind of been taught not to. Not everyone is like you. Some people lose patience with me really fast.

Some are so mean, I don’t like to think about it.

Somehow I think you know that I’ve been through a lot and you give me time. Even when I backslide – and I do backslide. I get mad at myself when I do, but It’s just. It’s sometimes so difficult to believe that you really won’t hurt me – especially when so many others already have.

Thank you for showing me that I can trust you every, single day. Sometimes I don’t know how you do it. I didn’t know there were humans who could be nice all the time. I promise, each day I believe it a little more.

Thank you for those moments in the evenings, when you’re home from work and we’ve both eaten and you let me just…lean against you for a little while. I’ve never had that before. It’s only ever been me. By myself. No one else.

Heck, I don’t know who my four-legged parents are or where they went. I’ve been alone for as long as I can remember.

Those moments when you let me rest my head on your shoulder mean a lot. More than you’ll probably ever know.

I sometimes think they mean a lot to you, too.

Thank you for seeing my broken parts and knowing not to push too hard or use them against me. Thank you so much for not using them against me.

Thank you for somehow understanding that even though those parts are there – and some of them are pretty jagged – I can still be whole. There are still times when I’m almost normal. I’m not completely useless or unworthy.

You’re the only person who has ever seen that in me.

Thank you for never yelling or hitting or raising your voice to me. Thank you for not being mean.

Thank you for always, always thinking of me when someone comes in the house or you have friends over or there are kids around or there’s a thunderstorm or fireworks or an ambulance or fire truck goes by on the street.

Thank you for realizing I have no idea what the sounds in the house mean yet – why does the refrigerator door make that noise if you leave it open too long? It’s so weird.

And the doorbell. Wow. Isn’t there any way to know when that’s going to ring?

And that thing that cleans the carpet? Is that really necessary? And are you sure it’s actually cleaning anything and not just a monster that roars for nothing?

Thank you for those special treats you found for me – and the toys you always buy. I’m trying to learn how to play with them.

It’s fun when I can make you laugh. I think the sound of your joy might be fixing the cracks in my heart a little. It’s a pretty exhilarating sensation. I didn’t think those spots would ever get fixed, but with you, a lot of things feel like they’re healing.

Thank you for the special tone in your voice when you whisper, "snuggle time, baby," and let me crawl into your lap and you open your arms and heart to me. We have a real connection, no matter what anyone else says or thinks.

Thank you for giving me the chance that no one else did.

Thank you for being kind and compassionate and generous.

Thank you for being you.

And thank you to whatever deity or being or entity brought you into my life. I never knew the world could be this way.

With you, I found out that it could.

You showed me what I didn’t think would ever be possible and that is the greatest gift in this world.

*****

Jennifer Vanderau is the Director of Communications for the Cumberland Valley Animal Shelter in Chambersburg, Pa., and can be reached at cvasoc@innernet.net. The shelter accepts both monetary and pet supply donations. For more information, call the shelter at (717) 263-5791 or visit the website www.cvas-pets.org.