YESTERDAY

was Poppy's birthday.

She's six.

She's been mine for..two or is it three years?

I don't really care how long she's been here,

I prefer not to even think about that except to wish she had been here her whole life.

It was hard for me to imagine anyone giving her away. I know I could never do it.

But when she was given to me, her then mom said she was a very picky eater and most times just wouldn't eat.

She also said that Poppy refused to come out her kennel and be with their family.

She said she'd take her out and she would run right back in and just sit there.

Hmmm.

She eats just fine here. In fact she runs up to me and gives me one or two tiny little "barks" in the morning

and then again in the evening, that clearly says "Where's my food?"

I used to put her in her kennel to eat and she would hurry so fast and then bark to be let out, that sometimes she would throw up.

Now she just waits for her turn to eat in the laundry room.

I feed Blue first, by himself.

And then I feed Jimmy and Nora.

Then the rest of the little ones

and lastly, Poppy, Claude and ancient blind Rosie.

They get the "special" little teeny tiny dog bites food.

Those three eat very very slow, so that's the reason they eat last.

Poppy likes to take a piece of kibble out one at a time and place it on the floor, look at it and then place another and another.

She's like a kid with M & M's, sorting them out by color.

She does it at every meal and then she goes back and eats them.

Sometimes Rosie will stumble upon one and eat it and Poppy will stand there and just look at her, kinda stunned

and then she will hurry and go get another piece.

And Claude? He tiptoes between the girls, takes a mouthful and backwards away and munchies.

Back and forth he goes

It's like a well choreographed little dance.

And the thing that really gets me about Poppy is how, somehow...

by some miracle, she has helped heal my heart after my Ruby's passing.

Just looking at her little face or feeling her tiny little body pressed against my shoulder as I drift off to sleep,

suddenly makes it very clear why she didn't fit into her previous home

and was meant to come live with me.