Inspired by Cat’s post over at Young Adult Money and in celebration of our Brooklyn’s 10th birthday, I wanted to write a little post about the best $200 I ever spent.
Here’s the background:
Valentine’s day weekend 2009, Eric surprised me with a trip to Seattle. We’d been “seeing” each other for a few months but weren’t officially a couple until the trip. It was my first trip to Seattle, so Eric obliged me in doing all of the “touristy” things that I wanted to do. We visited Pike place to see the big fish being thrown and caught, went to the top of the sky needle and visited the Starbucks flagship shop (bf’s huge “bucks” fanatic). We indulged in yummy food and wine and spent a good deal of the trip talking about our future together.
The weekend we became parents:
That weekend is when we decided that we wanted to be parents. Pet parents We’d been talking about adopting a dog for a while and had even made a few trips to the local animal shelter to “look”. Because I cannot “look” at animals without taking one home, I’d attempted to adopt a little white dog during a previous trip to the shelter. Sadly, I was inside waiting in line to fill out the adoption paperwork and when I go to the front of the line I was told he’d already been adopted. Although I was glad he found a home, I was disappointed that I hadn’t shown up 20 minutes earlier (in NYC small dogs are adopted from the city shelters really fast). I held back my tears until I got to the car and then bawled like a baby. Eric assured me that that dog wasn’t, “the one” and that we’d find another one that was the right dog for us.
During our Seattle trip I spent a lot of time searching petfinder.com for our dog. I didn’t want to let another opportunity pass me by, so the weekend after we god home, Feb 21st, we headed to a local animal rescue. The rescue’s founder, Sean, showed us a few dogs that were a little too big and a little too hyper for us. Again, I was disappointed that we couldn’t found the right dog. Sean asked us what exactly we were looking for. I told him a small dog with a laid back personality. His exact response was, “Oh, I think I have something in the basement, hold on a minute.” A few minutes later he emerged with a little scruffy gray and white dog. The little dog immediately rolled over on his back to let me rub his belly. He was sweet and calm and walked well on a leash. We were told that he was found on Greene street in Brooklyn so they named him Mr. Greene.
The best $200 I ever spent:
Mr. Greene had some health issues (read about them here), but my heart melted as soon as I held him. Eric and I immediately knew that he would be the perfect addition to the family. So without further ado, we filled out the adoption paperwork and gave Sean a list of references. He did our, “background check” and I wrote a check for $200. Sean told me that they’d give him a bath and he’d be ready for pick-up the next day. “Umm, no way, he’s coming home with us now!” They agreed to speed up the process and Mr. Greene became Brooklyn, as he rode home on my lap that afternoon.
Now known as, “Mr. B”, boo boo and boo bear, Brooklyn is a fixture in our home and a frequent mention on the blog. A fuzzy little love bug, that little dog’s adoption fee is definitely the best $200 I’ve ever spent!