Letting Go

Inherent in being a puppy raiser is the aspect of letting go. We sign up, knowing that we are going to have to let these puppies go one day. We just hope that ultimately, our letting them go will result in great things, changing someone's life for the better.

But heck, life is all about letting go. As parents, we let go of our children over and over again, as they enter kindergarten and college, get married, or move to another state. We let go of possessions, jobs, even friends. If we didn't ever let go, we'd be immature, stagnant, bored, unbalanced.

Yesterday, as I wrote about Cabana's career change and the difficult decision we'd be making, I felt a little like a trapeze artist, knowing I had some letting go to do. I was hanging on to the bar, knowing I had to let go and freefall for a little while, before catching the next bar. The next bar might be keeping Cabana as a pet, placing Cabana with another family, raising another puppy, or some combination of those things.

What a tremendous blessing to have 30+ friends there to support me during that freefall. All your comments were filled with heartfelt compassion, personal experience, and sage advice. I appreciated each and every word. What an amazing community of puppy raisers and dog lovers we have here.

We got home from our trip this evening, and I will be picking Cabana up from the puppy sitter's tomorrow morning first thing. I'm so grateful that all of this happened over the Thanksgiving break. My husband, daughters and I had four uninterrupted days together, plus 12+ hours driving in the car, to hash all of the options out. We talked about it a LOT, and that was extremely beneficial. I think it also helped to not have Cabana there, since she might have made us less objective (either by being too cute or too distracting).

Although we have pretty much made a decision, in case something crucial changes in my discussion with our puppy group leader (who I haven't been able to talk with since we got back), I'll wait until I've talked to her to make the decision public. Sorry for the big build-up! But I will say that everyone's comments made such an impact. It was extremely helpful to have such great input and to learn from the experiences of others. Thank you, thank you, thank you.