Sometimes The Bike Seat Falls At The Worst Time
Before today’s story, I have an urgent favor to ask. Our work to help rescue dogs and the people who love them cannot stop because we are going through a storm of our own. We have so many plans for what we can accomplish when we get back to that America place. More shelter dogs featured, more lives reached, more stories told and more ways to make rescues the breed of choice. But we need your help to get through these final weeks in Italy so we can make that future possible. If you believe in what we have done together for fifteen years and what we can do next, please consider becoming a paid Patreon member for just $5 a month. Your support helps us continue creating, advocating and building the rescue programs we believe can save lives. We need you now so we can do more for them tomorrow.
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This is Fruitycake. Oh, I remember the days when there was such a thing as sunshiney. On the days of sunshiney, you feel like you can do anything. You can take on the world, you can save the world, you love the world. At least, that’s how I feel. How about you? My persons are like that too.
But around here, there has been nothing but delays and rain and reports warning us that the mountains may crumble, that the water may tumble and that the skies will rumble. Some say they are a poet and they didn’t know it. I know it.
It’s hard to be patient in a storm. All you can think about is when it will be over. But sometimes you fool yourself into believing there is nothing good in a storm. That’s not true. Even though me and Girl Person were a little foolish, or a lot foolish, and tried to take a hikey hikey yesterday, we still laughed about getting soaked. Laughing in the storm was better than being stuck inside for days on end.
And Boy Person? He had to go into town in the rain on a bike that decided its seat would fall down. So there he was, pedaling down the road with his hands above his head, a sixty-pound bag of wood pellets on his back, and somehow he was even more soaked than we were. I’m not sure how he managed all of that, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t in the bicycle instruction manual.
As he was pedaling down the road in the wind trying to blow him into the sea, the mud slapping up into his pants and persons looking at this crazy American trying to perish, he wondered if this all had been worth it. If it all came down to this. Him collapsing into the sea. Or under the bus who kept trying to run him over, in a hurry for nothing, with no tourists on board, because who is crazy enough to be in this Portofino place right now? No one but us.
Me and Girl Person were not much help in the situation. Nope. She’s not allowed to lift anything heavy, and I’m not a dog who carries more than the responsibility of finding the bright side of life. That’s enough. So we all had to carry our own load. Girl Person washed clothes in buckets, one by one, so she didn’t have to carry too much weight, and I barked. Barked as soon as she sat down to cry, not even noticing the tears falling from beneath her wet raincoat.
I wish I could tell all these delays to hurry up and get out of here. Delay is a storm in itself when you’re weary. Sometimes you have to recognize that you’re going through a traumatic experience and be proud that you’re still trying. That you’re doing all you can do. Even when all you can do doesn’t seem like enough.
That’s how I felt in the shelter. I knew it wasn’t fun. I was scared. I took it day by day. Hour by hour. Survival was my goal on the streets, and survival was my goal in the shelter. I didn’t know when things would change or if they ever would. I didn’t know there was a Girl Person or a Boy Person or a pizza crust waiting for me somewhere in the world. I just knew I had to keep going. If I had given up, I wouldn’t have lived long enough to discover my purpose. And my purpose is now, too. So is yours.
If you’re going through anything, something, or all the things, we can do this together. Take what we are going through and don’t feel sorry for us. But use it. Use it to remind yourself that being afraid doesn’t mean you aren’t brave. Being exhausted doesn’t mean you aren’t strong. And having a day when all you can do is survive doesn’t mean you have failed.
That would help us feel better, knowing that even now, today, when we are scared of the storm forecast, when we are scared about the closing, when we are scared because we want so badly for everything to work out, we are somehow helping people as much as dogs and other animals.
And maybe that is one of the good things about a storm. It reminds us that we need each other. We need someone to laugh with when we’re soaked, someone to help us carry what we cannot, and someone to remind us that there is still a world beyond the clouds. Even when we can’t see it.
Sometimes we are so busy trying to get through the storm that we forget we are allowed to rest in the middle of it. Girl Person thinks she has to keep doing something to make everything better. Boy Person thinks he has to keep carrying something to make everything better. And me? Well, I have been practicing the art of napping for years, and I believe I may be the most qualified member of this family to give advice on the subject.
Resting isn’t giving up. You don’t have to earn a nap by solving every problem first. You don’t have to wait until the rain stops, the paperwork is signed or every worry has disappeared. Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is close your eyes for a little while and trust that you can begin again when you wake up.
So let’s get out our umbrellas together. Let’s carry what we can, put down what we can’t, and be happy for the opportunity to become better after this. Not because the storm was something we wanted, but because we didn’t let it take away everything good about us.
And if you’re waiting for your sunshiney days to return, I hope you remember that you are still you underneath all those clouds. The same person with dreams, a purpose and a reason to keep going.
I know this because I was once a shelter dog who didn’t know what tomorrow would bring. And now I’m a dog who has traveled across the world, loves his persons and has a very important job reminding you that your story isn’t over just because this chapter is hard.
And I still believe in sunshiney.
Even when it’s raining.
November 12 | I Can Rest Without Falling Behind
TODAY’S AFFIRMATION
My naps are not a failure of ambition. They are a highly professional part of my schedule.
And I, Fruitycake, would like to add that I have never once woken up from a nap and regretted it. The world was still there. My purpose was still there. And sometimes, if I was very fortunate, there was even a snack waiting for me.
I believe Boy Person needed a nap too yesterday and today too. But he had to keep us alive. Warm. Fed. And we kept him alive by being thankful. We gave him purpose too. But by night, we called it a night after our dinner of a wet baguette.
So rest when you need to. We have a lot of good things left to do together. We can do this, because this can’t have been all for nothing. It has to mean something to keep us going.
Make Rescues The Breed Of Choice.
Fruitycake
P.S. We Still Need Your Help Through This Storm
We are doing everything we can to get through the rain, the cold and the delays with our house closing. Every bit of help right now makes a difference, not just in getting us through today, but in making the rescue work we have planned for tomorrow possible.
Our immediate necessities: We urgently need help with groceries, wood pellets, heating and everyday expenses while we wait for the closing. Help us with necessities here.
Help Fruitycake get back to America: We still have veterinary appointments, health certificates, travel arrangements and other expenses ahead. Help Fruitycake get ready to leave Italy.
Our Porch Light shirt and mug: A reminder that we are all helping each other find our way home. Your purchase supports us during this difficult transition. Shop our Porch Light shirt or shop our Porch Light mug.
Our 2027 calendars: Two ways to remember this chapter and help us begin the next one. Under The Crow Rustico Calendar or 2 Traveling Dogs Calendar.
We need just ONE more THIS IS…ME sponsor this week! Our verified rescue dog stories give real shelter dogs a voice, share their stories and help them reach potential adopters. You can sponsor a featured dog in honor or memory of someone special, and even choose the location where we feature a dog. We need one more sponsor to meet this week’s goal and keep growing this important program. Sponsor a THIS IS…ME rescue dog.
And if you cannot help financially, please share our work, tell someone about a rescue dog or encourage someone who is going through their own storm. We have always believed that making rescues the breed of choice takes all of us.
Thank you for believing in what we have done and, even more importantly, what we still have the opportunity to do together.
