On November 15, 2014, the good people at Maui Humane Society put young Sunny The Wonderdog on a plane for Vancouver, WA, where she would soon become a Pacific Northwest treasure. She was welcomed to the Mainland USA by the equally good people at Tender Care Rescue, an organization that frequently takes in Maui’s finest and finds them good homes. Sunny’s trip over the ocean was made possible by the Maui Humane Society’s Wings of Aloha program, an effort funded by private donations and cooperating agencies like Hawaiian Airlines and Alaskan Air.
Within about a week, Sunny found her forever family at an adoption event organized by Tender Care, and took her freedom ride home. For her foster family back here on Maui, her departure was bittersweet. Sunny had become a big part of our lives during her stay, and then one day, she wasn’t here anymore. And that is just one of the wrinkles in the rich tapestry that is animal fostering.
Now that we’ve been through a few foster experiences, we’ve become old friends with the grief of letting go of temporary family members that make permanent marks on our lives and hearts. (And sometimes, our furniture.) We’ve decided to resign ourselves to the sadness and joy of a job well done; keeping the foster loop open saves lives and makes good on the promise that homeless animals will know human kindness in their lifetimes.
And thank goodness I’m not alone. If I cry in the parking lot for 20 minutes or so–just hypothetically–after leaving certain small, brown puppies with the shelter staff, I know that most of the people inside the building have been there, done that. It’s a wash, rinse, repeat situation.
Now that we’re in between washes, rinses and tears, we will look to the east–way east–and know that Sunny and those like her are safe there. From one paradise to another, we say, “Aloha!”
