Balsam, NC

With this post, I will be going over 200,000 ActiveRain points. I can’t believe it. When I first joined AR less than a year ago, I thought it would take YEARS to earn even 100,000 points let alone 200,000 points.

What do those points mean anyway? After almost one year of consistent posting these points represent one of the most fulfilling years I’ve ever enjoyed from a creative viewpoint, allowing me an outlet to pursue photography and writing in a manageable way. The points reflect encouragement and support from my own peers and surprisingly from the public also. They are a measure of involvement. They indicate how much I have learned to do in a relatively short period of time. They aren’t just numbers they are reminders…reminders of all of the people I’ve encountered and gotten to know in a very real sort of way, while letting them get to know me in probably the most open way I‘ve ever let people into my life.

For anyone reading this who is at the beginning of their association with ActiveRain and still trying to figure out the points and what they mean…the sooner you understand that the points mean something different to everyone and you will only get out of this experience what you put in, the better the ActiveRain experience will be for you. Be intentional about your posts and even more intentional about your comments. At least be intentional if you want the points to mean something about you and to you.

So, thank you to everyone for your encouragement over the past year and for helping me get to this point. Right now, I’m going over 200,000 points and wondering where I’ll be a year from now.

Happy Valentines Day to you all. Have a great day and I hope you enjoy these photos from my series "Monica’s Gift". Hot off the snowy press, so to speak! Today the chime is weathering the bit of snow falling here in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina.

Here is the rest of the story I began the other day with the Prince of Privilege and his liberation from the sad situation he and his sisters were living in. He had lost his human to a horrific auto and truck accident and was living with his human’s mother who did want to provide a good safe home to him but she herself was in the middle of awful circumstances.

The day we met Frosty, Sabrina and Zoe was cold and damp…a Sunday…sometime in late October…maybe early November six years ago. At that time they had been living outside in all weather for about a year in 6x10 chain link fenced enclosures after having had an exquisitely pampered life indoors with their human.

Their small faces were unhappy and resigned. We packed them into the car and they smelled so badly that we called a groomer friend of ours who was closed for the day and asked if we could come use her facilities to clean these rescues up. This woman has a heart bigger than her 5’2” frame where dogs are concerned and she told us to come right over. Once there, she determined the only way to give the dogs relief was to give them each puppy cuts. The mats were pulling their skin and the twigs and filth were too deeply entwined in the fur. Brenda shaved them, I bathed them and Leslie kept them calm while drying them.

Now, we could see their faces clearly and clearly they were frightened of the new circumstances. Happily, not for long. It only took a couple of days with consistent good food, warm and dry bedding and playful interaction for their faces to relax and happiness to take over.

A few years later the lady who had been keeping them after her daughter died saw them while we were walking them down the road. Her husband who had been so ill had passed away and she was on her way to the cemetery to visit their graves. She stopped to see the dogs and was so happy to see how well cared for and well adjusted they were. She told us she was very happy with her decision to have us take them and she would be talking with her daughter to reassure her that her precious pets were in good hands. As far as Frosty, Sabrina and Zoe were concerned…they were glad to see the lady and went up to her wiggling and wagging but they knew their home was with us.

There’s nothing like a happy ending, is there?