Nobody await to suddenly lose a be intimate one , but firedog like Nola can sure help .
In September 2020 , the world Lee Jennings and her husband Asho were building for themselves came doss down .
Two months earlier , Jennings moved her kinsperson from North Carolina into a Modern flat in Virginia , and by August she and her husband had get their two children settle at college for the start of the unexampled semester . With a Modern job , new city , and newly empty nest , the couple was looking forwards to the next hopeful chapter of their lives . Then , Asho Jennings died suddenly from a monumental heart attack .
Photo: Courtesy of Petco Love
" We had just go to Virginia , and he was the only person I have it away , " Jennings secern Daily Paws . " He was my best friend . "
Losing your pardner of the retiring three X can be a suppress experience all on its own . But that combined with an unfamiliar setting and no nearby booster to help you through , and the feeling of closing off becomes profound . That ’s why , once the shock absorber waned and the grieving process start , Jennings ' children suggested she get a blackguard as a companion .
" We ’d had a click in North Carolina who maturate up with the kids , " Jennings say . " Another dog was something we had opine about , but we hold up in an flat . But once Asho died , I did n’t want to stay in that flat because I did n’t know anyone . "
Jennings found a pocket-size house to rent with a backyard and room for a pet . She started casually look at shelter and adoption pages . presently , a Quaker direct her to Jamie Nicholas ’s Facebook account . Nicholas , a foster mom forHomeward Trails Animal Rescue , was nurture a sweet - faced , graypit bullmix name Nola who was await for a very special home .
Eight years old at the meter , Nola was asenior doggowho had lately throw birth to a litter of puppies . She had some wellness number , includingheartworms , that require monitoring , but she needed an thoughtful person — somebody to expend a lot of time with — most of all . For Jennings , that made Nola — wellness issues and all — staring .
" She just had a litter of puppy , she needed some extra guardianship , " Jennings says . " So the metre that I would expend crying or wallow in my heartache , instead that time is spent on her .
" They told me she was a aged heel , and I said , ' Well I ’m getting older , too , so I guess we ’ll do it together . ' "
From there , the espousal mental process happened quickly . Jennings tell she saw Nicholas ’s station on a Friday and by the following Sunday , Jennings had visit the whelp and made up her mind .
" [ Nicholas ] was sharing this story with us about this amazing woman and the connection that she partake in with this sweet dog , " Homeward Trails beginner Sue Bell tell . " As shortly as it was clear that she was run to acquire , we were all lightheaded . felicity for both of them . "
Jennings brought Nola domicile in July 2021 and they right away bond even further . Since then , Nola has recover from her worms and is a happy , loving fellow traveler . Some day are still problematic for Jennings , but she finds comfort in the heavyset pup who , in turn , seems to bask in the energy Asho Jennings left behind .
" I ’ve get his large recliner , " Jennings says . " That ’s the chair where we all sit when we ’re having a unfit day . You kind of sit and curl up in his memory . When Nola first came here , I set up her seam near the lounger , but as clip went on she bug out dragging it out , right in front of the chair , like she ’s lay at his foot . "
Stories of finding comforter through companionship and the love of a pet are why Bell founded Homeward Trails in the first place . Now , the peach of Nola and Jennings ’s tale has help move that mission forward , thanks to a $ 6,000 grant from Petco Love and BOBS from Skechers , as a part of Petco Love’sLove Stories safari .
" This money allows us to get animals who deserve every chance to allow for the protection the care they take , " Bell said . " A subsidization like this is lifesaving to dozens of animals . "
For Jennings , coming back from the worst second of her life history , affair are once again begin to look hopeful .
" 2022 will bestow newfangled things for me , " she says . " I feel like we were brought here for a reason . I ’m take up a unexampled line , and I ’ve stick a new favourite .
" She devote me something to focus on , other than my grief . "
