The Purpose I Could Not Outrun

On By 2 Traveling DogsIn dog blog

The Purpose I Could Not Outrun

This is Girl Person. I thought I had lost my purpose.

The truth is, it never left me. I was the one who tried to leave it behind.

For so many years, the four of us—Boy Person, Brickle, Digby and me—knew exactly what we were supposed to do. We traveled through 48 states, visited 48 animal rescues and told the stories of dogs waiting for someone to choose them. Brickle and Digby were beside us for every mile, every rescue visit and every life we tried to help.

They were not simply part of the work. They were the heart of it.

When we lost them, the grief changed everything. I did not know how to keep doing the work without them. Every part of our purpose reminded me of what was missing. So I convinced myself that perhaps I needed an entirely different life. Maybe I could build something new, live somewhere new and become someone who did not hurt quite so much.

But grief does not disappear because you change the scenery. Purpose does not stop calling simply because you are afraid to answer.

I have spent a great deal of time here at the rustico waiting—waiting for my body to heal, waiting for the house to sell and waiting to understand what our lives are supposed to look like next. I kept thinking our purpose could begin again after everything else was settled. After the rustico sold. After we returned to the United States. After we had a plan. After I felt stronger.

But animals do not have the luxury of waiting for our lives to become convenient.

And neither does Fruitycake.

Fruitycake deserves a life every bit as full, meaningful and adventurous as the lives Brickle and Digby had. He deserves more than to live in the shadow of two dogs we will always love and miss. He deserves his own story, his own adventures and his own purpose.

It is our job to help him discover and fulfill that purpose.

Fruitycake did not come into our lives to replace Brickle or Digby. No dog could ever do that. He came to walk beside us into a chapter none of us knew how to begin. He has his own fears to overcome, his own lessons to teach and his own way of making people smile.

Perhaps while Boy Person and I are helping Fruitycake find his purpose, he is helping us find ours again too.

Brickle and Digby helped us begin. Fruitycake is helping us continue.

This Week, We Begin Again

That is why the three of us are traveling this week to visit Parco Canile Valbasca, the ENPA Como shelter.

The shelter cares for abandoned dogs from more than 80 municipalities around Como. They provide veterinary care and sterilization, help dogs find the right families and guide adopters through a thoughtful matching process. Volunteers help with walking, feeding, cleaning, fundraising and the countless everyday tasks that keep a shelter going.

You can learn more about the rescue at parcocanile.it⁠.

This visit is not simply a tour. It is our first real step back into in-person rescue work. We want to listen, learn and understand how animal rescue and adoption work here in Italy. We want to hear about the challenges shelters face, the resources they need and the ways we may be able to use our experience and our platforms to help.

It is also a chance for Fruitycake to begin carrying this purpose forward in his own way. He deserves to meet new people, experience new places and learn that the world can be bigger than the things that frighten him. He deserves to discover that one rescue dog can use his life to help another.

This visit will allow us to begin building the next chapter of 2 Traveling Dogs while we wait for the rustico to sell. We cannot control when someone will decide that this house and land belong in their story. But we can control what we do with the days in between.

We can use them to research, reconnect and remember why we started all of this in the first place.

A Prayer That Became Possible

I prayed for a way to make this visit possible.

I prayed for a sign that I was not too late, too tired or too broken to return to my purpose. And then, little by little, what seemed impossible became possible. People helped. Plans came together. A door opened.

Because of the generosity of people who believe in this next chapter, we received the help we needed to cover our accommodations and the rental car. Those two major expenses have been taken care of, and that is what turned this rescue visit from a prayer into something we can actually do.

We are deeply grateful.

Now we have to walk through the door that opened.

I know this one visit will not answer every question or erase the grief. I do not want it to. Brickle and Digby deserve to be missed. But perhaps grief is not something I am supposed to run from. Perhaps it is something I am supposed to carry forward and allow it to make the work deeper, more urgent and more meaningful.

I am not starting over because everything we did before is gone. Boy Person and I are starting again because everything Brickle and Digby taught us is still here—and because Fruitycake deserves the opportunity to build something beautiful from their legacy.

This week, our new rescue journey begins.

What We Still Need

Although our accommodations and rental car have been covered, we still need help with the everyday necessities of the trip.

We will need fuel for the long drive, meals while we are traveling and the other small but essential expenses that quickly add up when three persons—yes, Fruitycake counts as a person—leave the rustico and travel across Italy.

And then there are Fruitycake’s treats.

Our hardest-working member of the travel team will need his food, travel necessities and, of course, plenty of snacks. He works very hard supervising Boy Person and Girl Person, posing for pictures, inspiring the blog and helping us carry Brickle and Digby’s purpose into this new chapter.

A rescue dog with that many responsibilities deserves to be properly compensated in treats.

If you would like to help with fuel, meals, Fruitycake’s treats and the remaining necessities for this week’s rescue visit, you can do so here:

Follow Along With Us in September

You can also support this next chapter by purchasing Fruitycake’s September Affirmations for Dogs and People Workbook.

It includes 30 days of affirmations, activities and reflection space for dogs and their persons. We will begin following it together on the blog tomorrow and continue throughout September. You and your dog can join Fruitycake and me, one affirmation and one day at a time.

Thank you for helping me understand that purpose does not always return with a grand announcement.

Sometimes it returns quietly, wearing fur, standing beside you and asking whether you are ready to take the next step.

Fruitycake is ready.

Boy Person is ready.

And I am ready too.


Girl Person