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Those of us who are old enough can remember the Gidget movies and later the television series which starred Sally Field. Gidget was a character created by Frederick Kohner in a book titled Gidget, The Little Girl With Big Ideas. What an appropriate name for another little girl with big ideas and here is her story.
Help yourself to a morning danish below and then follow me over the jump.
My husband and I have always had one or more (up to four) dogs in our lives. At the beginning of the year, we still had four dogs: Missy - 15.5 year old teacup poodle that we inherited from my husband's aunt upon her death eight years ago; Dottie - 14 year old black and white springer spaniel; Willie Bear - 9.5 year, 23 pound pomeranian; and Hannah - 2.5 year old liver and white springer spaniel. In March, we lost Dottie to old age. This was not unexpected because 14 is quite old for a springer and we were prepared. What was unexpected was that we lost our beloved and beautiful Hannah in June to congenital kidney disease.
Here is a picture of Hannah and her medal on her first birthday when she won a 5K race for dogs and their owners.
We were devastated when we lost Hannah. So was Willie Bear. For a month, he mourned. He was so depressed that we thought we were going to lose him too.
So we decided to look for another springer spaniel. My husband went to the Springer Rescue website for the Southeastern states and saw a little liver and white dog who caught his eye. Her name was Gidget and her bio said that she was 2.5 years old and had been given up by a family with four children when they lost their home. We contacted the regional coordinator and were promptly turned down because they wanted to place her with a family with children. My husband then wrote a very long email to her explaining what had happened to Hannah and how even making an inquiry was a major step for us.
That email must have hit the right note with the coordinator because she asked if she could call us on the phone. After several phone calls from her, another coordinator, and a home visit, we were approved to adopt Gidget. Gidget was surrendered in Louisiana, but was being fostered in Mississippi. My husband drove to Mississippi last Tuesday to pick her up and brought her home on Wednesday.
This little Gidget is one curious little girl. She is so full of wonderment and still very puppy like even though she is 2.5 years old. Gidget is such a perfect name for her because she is definitely a little girl with big ideas. There is a perfectly shaped white horseshoe on her right hip. It may be her lucky horseshoe but we are the lucky ones to have her come into our lives.