The further I get along in years the more I value the friends I have come to know.
Especially the close ones who have been in my life for decades.
How decades you ask?
Well, I have known this table since the early 70's.
You can imagine the stories that were recounted.
We gathered for tapas ahead of a party for another dear friend.
Us and maybe ... 100 others.
So, we go through the decades knowing people.
Friending people .. some closer than others.
Getting closer to some in a variety of ways.
Like, reading each others posts on the internet and being amazed.
Being drawn together by a mutual passion...
a love for animals
... and a bond is formed.
Then after a few years of saying "Let's do coffee", and it not happening, you both show up at the 60th birthday party for a friend.
The friend being Tom. That's him on the left.
Then after a few hours of mingling with a huge room of friends
you finally get together to chat.
YES ... Live and in person.
A meeting of friends.
A meeting of Kindred Spirits
"Kindred Spirits are two people that make a special connection by sharing a bond that has joined them by the means of an experience that has drawn them together on a higher level of consciousness. This connection can be from the same experience at the same time
or two separate experiences similar in nature"
It was such a great pleasure to spend time with Michele.
Talking about our respective animal welfare initiatives just reinforced a bond created in the digital world.
Talking about the things that others just don't get and gaining strength from that.
Our friend Sandy captured the image of
Michele and I.
She posted it and many other party photos on Facebook a few days later.
With the posting of the photo came comments from a couple of Kindred Spirits
"My Kindred Spirit, Terry Shewchuk. I love this man for what he stands for and the work he does. Terry is the founder of Spanky Project.
Terry organises trips to Cuba a few times a year to spay and neuter the dogs and cats in the streets and for the people that cannot afford these services.
Terry has an incredible team of veterinarians and volunteers.
I am so proud to call him my friend.
Thank you my friend for all the "right" you do in this world!"
"To my Kindred Spirit Michele Bower. I share the same love and admiration for you and your work with Boxer Rescue Ontario.
In the animal welfare world you are the ones that do the heavy lifting.
You see the abuse the hurt and the pain.
I know it talks a toll.
Only the bravest, strongest and most loving can do the work you do.
You are angels from above to those that have been beaten down.
You raise them up to live life again.
Abrazos mi Amiga!!!!!"
Boxer Rescue Ontario (BRO) had it's beginnings in 2000. It is a nonprofit organization of volunteers dedicated to placing abandoned, injured or lost boxers in loving homes.
Michele tells me in the beginning the intake was 36 dogs for the year.
Now it is 200 annually.
Awesome people doing amazing work.
BRO could sure use your support.
The Spanky Project has been helping Cubans help their animals since 2003.
Based in Havana they conduct free spay/neuter clinic.
"We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing one another."
-Luciano De Crescenzo
