My Baby Elvis
Here is adopter Diane's story about how bringing home her BARCS baby Elvis changed her life for the better.
I’ve wanted a dog for as long as I can remember. When my husband, HP, and I bought a house in 2015, I had a puppy on the brain. Unfortunately, our home wasn’t quite ready to welcome a ball of energy and fluff.
Everything changed in 2017. It was an extremely tough time for HP and I. I had changed jobs and it was not going well, so I was under pressure to find a new role. While all this was going on, I learned I was pregnant. So that stress was compounded by our fear of losing health insurance, maternity leave, and all that comes with a new baby. Unfortunately, my pregnancy wasn’t meant to be and I found out I had a miscarriage at my 10-week checkup. During my post-surgery, I lost about four liters of blood. Thankfully, I was okay.
After everything that had happened, my confidence had been shaken significantly and I was struggling with depression. HP and I seriously considered our next steps in life, and we came back to the idea of adopting a dog.
I was so excited to go to BARCS and pick out my new best friend. We got there early and waited for the doors to open. That’s when we saw Elvis. He was the saddest dog in the world. When we walked past him, he didn’t even look at us. The volunteer called his name and he didn’t even look up. We almost passed on him but then decided to meet him. As soon as he walked out the door and saw me sitting on the bench, his butt started wiggling and he came over immediately and snuggled right next to me. I knew he was the one and asked him if he wanted to come home with us.
Elvis makes us so happy. I love that I see his loving face every day. He actually smiles and has a toothy grin. He is so snuggly and was exactly the kind of medicine I needed to start to heal. He is always happy to see me and gives so much affection all of the time. He has helped me become more patient and be a better, less selfish person. He loves HP but I am his person. He waits for me to get up in the morning and he is always by my side. My husband says he mopes around the house when I’m not there, and I look forward to coming home to him everyday.
Overall, I feel really good about our decision in choosing to adopt a dog instead of having a baby. I don’t want people to think aw, that’s so sad. I am extremely happy with Elvis. I know he is a dog and people are like, “he’s not a baby,” but he is my baby. He is my joy. His smell brings me comfort. That probably sounds crazy, but it’s true. And I’m okay with being crazy. I love him, and he loves me
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