Kerby Pack - Dolly, Porter and George
George, The Nervous Newcomer - Painting by Stacy Kerby
We received this touching little story from Stacy Sutton Kerby and her family, who donated a Wal-Mart gift card and $50 to Love-A-Bull. Thank you, Kerbys!
Once upon a time there was a dog named George. George could ride a bike, swim in deep water, and one day while walking in the forest George met a nice Dog Girlfriend! After riding and swimming, they went back to the castle, roasted marshmallows and fell asleep by the fireplace.
Kerby Pack - George and Dolly
This is the bedtime story my adopted son likes to tell me when I am tucking him in. He knows George’s real story – that he was a puppy with no bounce. When he arrived at our house, at 12 weeks old, he had the surly, brooding look of one who had already lived a hard life. He backed himself into a strategic corner and lie flat as a rug. He had been rescued, sheltered, adopted, rejected, all before we met him. He had no sense of security or connection with anyone or any place.
The story of how we became parents to our boys has some similarities to George’s story. Our boys were in a foster home, and the transition to our house brought yet another round of fear, confusion and grief into their lives. Many times during that transition I reflected on how fear drives us to maladaptive behavior, making it harder for us to live with others, when ironically what we crave most is to be safe in the pack.
But on those magical evenings my son tells The Story of George, in a half-purple darkened room, while snuggling stuffed animals under his chin, I know he feels warm, safe, worthy and loveable. And George at his bedside is his powerful avatar. George has given my son a narrative to make sense of his own adoption. A tale of triumph over betrayal and rejection, of compassion soothing fear, and how the discarded mutt turned out to be Handsome Prince after all.
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