Miss Celeste

Life can be pretty relentless. You hear about stories where someone just continues to have the best of luck in life, love, success, and all the above and wonder “Wow. How?” I’ve seen the opposite with my 20-year old daughter over the last year. From health issues to relationship issues to job issues, one after another there seemed to be one of them that would just go to Hell. It was kind of relentless.

Memorial Day weekend she decided to throw a dog(puppy) into the mix, Frankie. She was a giant bundle of puppy; part Pitbull and part Siberian Husky. She saw pictures of Frankie on the AWL website and felt an instant connection. At first I felt much trepidation about her throwing another living creature into the mix, and one that needed to be taken care like a child. But seeing the change in her attitude, health, and overall outlook on life made me do an about face and I realized this dog was the best thing for her emotionally, mentally, and physically.

Frankie made my daughter realize she didn’t need her boyfriend in her life. Having Frankie to take care of and give and receive that unconditional love was what she needed to open her eyes to the fact the boyfriend was NOT a boyfriend, but just a lazy live-in roommate. In August she made it clear that she wasn’t happy in the relationship. It wasn’t a relationship, just two people doing their own things and sharing a roof. After two or three weeks of him pleading and whining like a 10-year old he packed a few of his things while my daughter was at her second shift at Starbucks and loaded his things – as well as Frankie – in his truck and drove to his parents house.

From August 31st, 2023 to October 17th, 2023 it was a constant battle to keep our daughter from completely falling apart. She didn’t care that he left, but he took her Frankie with him like a consolation prize. We did a lot of footwork in getting receipts, signed forms, and everything else we thought a judge in small claims court would need in order to build a case for our daughter as Frankie’s rightful owner. But on October 17th we realized it was all for nothing. The judge didn’t go over any of it, instead he chastised two young people for “shacking up”, then proceeded to say he couldn’t order the ex to give the dog back because they had lived together. That was it. The boyfriend was ordered to pay the total of all the things our daughter bought for Frankie, plus court costs. That was that.

So the next couple of weeks after that it was rough. The disappointment in not getting the dog back, the ex and his smug face as we left the court, and my daughter seemingly feeling blindsided, shaking outside the courthouse from anger, disappointment, and just overall sadness from losing her Frankie. But we told her she needed to focus on her, and the fact she had gotten out of a really shit relationship and that was the most important part. Between us and her friends she knew she was in a position to make her life better. We found a brand new loft in the downtown area where she lives that the rent was based on your income, which ended up being almost $400 cheaper than what her current rent is(she moves in hopefully next week). And she started focusing on her schooling more and getting more hours in, as well as working as much as she could. She was powering through the disappointment of the last several months.

She also started thinking about maybe getting a dog of her own. Now that the ex was gone she could have a dog all her own, with no strings or complications to get in her way. She still had a lot of love to give to a pooch. She didn’t want to forget Frankie, but she had to move on.

Enter Celeste.

Celeste is kind of the opposite of Frankie. She’s three-years old for one, where Frankie was like 6 months. Frankie had only been at the shelter for a week before my daughter adopted her. Celeste had been at the shelter for 5 months with no one ever inquiring about her. Celeste had also come into the shelter pregnant, with all her pups being adopted out as she remained.

Our daughter met Celeste for the first time a couple weeks ago, going to the AWL and taking her out for a walk. There was an instant connection. Frankie was a spitball of energy, while Celeste was quiet, reserved, and very timid. Sweet, but reserved as I think she’d seen a whole hell of a lot in her three years so far. She was pregnant and very undernourished when she arrived at the shelter. She’d also had some injuries. But like Frankie, Celeste isn’t much of a barker which my daughter took as a sign that maybe this might be the dog she was looking for.

After a couple weeks of running it in her head and weighing options, pros, and cons this past Thursday our kiddo picked up our new grand puppy. She took her to Fort Wayne and gave her a bath at Petco, then took her shopping for a bed, sweaters, toys, treats, and just general pampering. I met Celeste Saturday afternoon. My wife and I headed over to our daughter’s apartment. Our oldest was over there as well as they’d taken a trip up north together, Celeste in tow, to enjoy the beautiful November Saturday that we’d had. Celeste is an absolute sweetheart. Very timid, but once she realizes you’re a friend she’s very loving.

Sunday morning I got a text from my daughter that Celeste was barking like crazy while my daughter was at work at Starbucks. She’s got a camera in her bedroom so she can see and talk to Celeste while she’s not there via her phone. The fact she was barking like crazy worried her since Celeste doesn’t bark. Turned out she was barking because she had to go to the bathroom. Which she did on camera for my daughter to see. I went over and got to clean up quite a mess(don’t jump right into fancy canned food for your shelter dog. Too rich.) So I spent the day over there with Celeste, hanging out on the couch and finding out what a fantastic pooch she is.

It feels like maybe we may be on the upswing, at least for a while anyways. Though I guess our daughter called off work early this morning because she threw up, so who knows? Regardless, we’re better than we were a month ago.