Th e Ow l | Spr in g 2018 | Page 11
PC: A heartbreaking moment? VP: When I realized that I was being called to live the life of intentional homelessness I have lived for the last two years, I had a 16-year-old Dalmatian named Jack who I adored beyond measure. But he was too old to travel with me. While I was working on the road, Jack had been cared for by a few incredibly loving people. But none of them had signed up to take care of an older dog with some issues. That was my responsibility ? and one I took really seriously. Although all the right people and solutions had always come to fruition in my care of Jack ? including a random email from someone who never wrote to me about a South African woman who specialized in taking care of older dogs FOR FREE in exchange for a free place to stay ? my sense of duty to my beloved dog filled me with fear and guilt and shame. In order for the right solution to surface, I had to lose those useless emotions. So I spent a week just praying. Not looking for an answer, but just praying. When I felt the fear clear, I got on the phone ? and in three phone calls, the perfect solution came. I had gotten Jack from a woman who had rescued him after he was supposed to be euthanized. Jack had survived a botched home neutering, after which he
was abandoned, and then mauled almost to death by wild dogs. This woman ? Elaine Price ? had rescued him and then hand nursed him back to health. Although she was no longer doing rescue, she remembered both Jack and me, and wanted to bring Jack back ?home?. Together Elaine and I made sure Jack had the perfect care at the end of his life. And on the day when it was time for him to go, Elaine knew it ? and we were both there with him. I know for a fact that Elaine gave Jack a far better and more stable last six months than I ever could have ? and grateful doesn?t even begin to cover what I feel about her love for Jack. Letting Jack go was absolutely the hardest thing I have had to do on the way of being lost. But it taught me that love isn?t about attachment or clinging. It is about doing the nearest right thing we can do at any moment by listening to our hearts, and joining together in Love for the good of others. PC: Who are some of the people you have met along the way and why are they special? VP: So many people. All of the people who come up to me at my talks or book signings and share the stories of their own journeys in such vulnerability and honesty crack my heart open and keep me doing the hard work of staying on the way of being lost.