A Gift Worth Giving!

No...it's not diamonds! But it is just as valuable! It is the love and laughter that goes with inviting a new dog or cat into your home.

I won't bore you today with statistics. I'm sure most of you have heard them recited over and over again. But did you know that a pet can extend your life? Not to mention that adopting one from a rescue group, or your local animal pound, can definitely extend theirs!

As you look at the pictures posted here today, I ask each and everyone of you to try and look more closely at their faces. Each one of them, at some point in their young life, was loved and wanted. Now, they languish in our local pound, wondering what happened?

Some have been physicaly abused. Some have been abandoned. Some have simply wandered too far away from home, and got lost. But each and every one of them is full of love and hope! They only want to be with someone who will offer them what they most desire: Love and companionship.

So as we gather for this Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday period, let us not forget the forgotten. Let us remember that these lost souls didn't ask to be here. They didn't set about their small lives to be left behind. Once, they were were wanted. Once, they were loved. Once, they entrusted their very survival to their keepers, only to be betrayed. And yet, even now, they harbor no ill will or malice. They just keep wagging their tails, hoping for the day when they will be chasing that ball, getting that belly rub, or giving that face licking!

This year, as you sit pondering a gift that will bring smiles to you and yours for years to come, remember that the most precious gift is not a big screen TV or a diamond ring. It is a life filled with love.

Now that is a gift worth giving!