Misty Part 1

Warning: If you have suicidal ideations, or bad depression, please read with care.

Tonight, as I bathed my sweet puppy all alone, I had to reflect on my past as I washed her ears and talked to her soothingly. In fact, that was all I talked about when I sat there rubbing shampoo through her ears.

You see, Misty and I had a rough start. As it was, I was in a terrible relationship. At the time, I didn't know that, but that's besides the point. I had been looking for a puppy for a couple months, hoping to get approval from my therapist to have an emotional support animal. I saved and saved, because the man I was with had bad allergies to dogs, and I wanted to get a hypoallergenic pup. Then, I got kicked out of the house I was living. I didn’t have a choice. They gave me two hours to get all that I needed into my minivan and get out. They trapped my ex in his classroom at college, preventing him from beating the crap out of them for forcing me out, because he didn’t know it was happening.

I had nowhere to go, and no one cared. That night, I met with him and he explained that our friends had said they are okay with me staying with them. He brought some more of my stuff with him, and I drove to the friends’ house in tears. It had been at least a year since I had spent more than a couple nights sleeping alone, and I was scared. All plans for a puppy went to the side, and the money I had been saving went to trying to make this temporary location a home.

I don’t know how long it took, but it was over a month later that I cracked. Stress, fear, and an unhealthy amount of attachment to my abusive ex and I was sitting bawling in the bathroom, a knife to my wrists. Within a flash, they sent me off with the police to the ER, and when my ex came to see me, he told me our “friends” would not allow me back into their house. They said it hurt THEM too much to have me around. I cried, and screamed, and then they admitted me for the night in a mental hospital. It wasn’t my first time in one, but I still hated it.

The next day, I was given a voucher to go to the police station via cab to get proof that I didn’t have a warrant out for my arrest, then to the homeless shelter. My anxiety was through the roof. They told me I wasn’t allowed to have my own pillow, and that my medications would go with them, and I had to ask for them if I wanted them. It was an enormous responsibility, especially as I started working longer hours for work because it was the Christmas season, and they needed me. I was also expected to come back and mop the entire building or sweep it. Sounds like not too bad of a deal, right? The problem was, I would get back from work after lights out, and still must mop in the dark, or try to clean the bathroom before someone else used it.

My ex finally had a house. I was two weeks into my stay, and he said it would be ready to move into in two weeks, and that’s when everything started coming together for my little ESA. My therapist finally agreed that an ESA could help me. She had no idea how much it would really help, but that’s another story. I had saved more so that I had the cost of a dog or puppy. I started scrimping and saving so that I could also get her a collar, leash, and feeding bowls.

When I first heard about Misty, I had put a reach out on Facebook and one lady mentioned that she had one more puppy left of the litter. We got to talking that day, and when she showed me a picture, I was hooked.

Just a few short days later, I picked Misty up from her Original Human Mom (OHM) at the vet’s office after she got her last set of puppy shots. I had a collar and a leash, and OHM gave me a kennel for her. I drove back to the homeless shelter and immediately went to the office with my other proof of ESA – her shot records. Once they looked it over, they said I was good to go, and Misty became the most interesting thing in the shelter. She was five months old, and that night I sat in the bathtub with her in between my knees and cleaned her, allowing her to smell like me. This was only the beginning for us, and it felt great.