Life is a Journey – Journey and Karen

Journey

On January 2, 2009, I made a huge decision for my family… I finally bought our first family dog.  Most people would stop and scratch their head and say, so what?  But, let me tell you my story…

My name is Karen.  I am a single mom in the US Air Force.  I have two lovely daughters.  We’re stationed here in Ohio.  Year after year, I would promise my kids that we would get a dog.  So, base after base, we would visit the animal shelter and pet stores and wish and wish and wish and wish.

Before being stationed in Ohio, we lived in Anchorage, Alaska for four years where we tolerated brutal weather.  My daughter wanted to start a dog day care business where we would take care of dogs while military people would go on vacation.  Well, that fell through.

But, here in Ohio, I visited Fetch in my local neighborhood.  I went there on a Friday,  January 2, 2009 and looked over the puppies that I was so familiar with.  Well, in a bottom cage there was this black and white Siberian Husky just sitting there minding his own business.

I asked if I could play with him.  We immediately bonded and I knew then that I had to bring him home.

I brought him home and my daughter actually thought I stole him because we always went to the pet stores and came home empty-handed.  Well, this time was different!

I named our puppy Journey.  It was easy to give him that name because I knew the next day I would have completed 20 years in the US Air Force and could only think that it had been a “long journey”.  I took him to Pet Smart’s veterinarian for his first check up and the attendant told me that no one in their database was named Journey.  That made me feel proud; to have a unique name for a dog that had so much significance on my life in the military.

We love and enjoy our dog, who is now 1 years old.  He is a blessed addition to our family.  He was well worth the wait.

By Karen Greenwood