Angelic Find

This can certainly be interpretted in many ways, but the story is worth sharing. It is a good, and truthful story.

Late one afternoon after spending a long day rescuing animals, we decided to drive to St. Bernard Parish. We had heard about the school shootings the day before and felt that we needed to see it for ourselves. We had little direction to the location, and no maps of the area. The parish was barren, for the flooding had been high and the neighborhoods had become a silent wasteland. It was unnerving.

We marveled at the scene before us and kept our own silences in the car. It was hard to ingest. We looked out the window and tried to comprehend the destruction outside. We held our breaths from the smell and wondered in quiet how anything could have survived.

It was then that we saw Marcel. He was running with a small yellow lab mix buddy. They ran, but were curious enough not to go far. Lacey coaxed the little blond one and had him eating from her hand. I started to leave food for Marcel, who seemed to want to run away rather than be leashed and rescued. And then Marcel decided to eat, and Lacey worked her magic, and soon he was on his way into the crate and ready to ride. It was unexpected and it was quite unplanned, but it was magical nonetheless.

When Marcel's owners called and we could finally declare theirs a match, I recounted the rescue...and then it hit me. He was the only dog we rescued in St. Bernard parish. We had finished rescue work for that day and were not on the lookout for animals when we came across him. It was almost as if the animals who WERE our mission that day--the ones who had lost their lives--were pointing us in Marcel's direction. Had we not gone to see them, we never would have discovered Marcel.

It is a matter of interpretation of course, but I'd like to believe that the animals were watching out for us and helping us to save the ones that could still be saved.