i keep track of things by milestones..i can see the road we have travelled by looking a wee bit back and panning forward to today. last year at this time was a brief period of unhappy drama, once it all settled down and we focused back on the animals, we were back on the right track again.
adding it up in my head unofficially..i think about 75 new animals came in over the past 12 months. it doesn't seem like a great number but the impact that each had on us was great. some are still here, settled into the saints routines...this has become their home..for now at least. some have found great homes of their own, and some ended their lives in our care.
the freaking out over money is nothing new..it is the same constant freakout year after year.
what is new this year is something that i find quite amazing. i have always said that each year brings one or two new, really great volunteers who stick and stay...they put down their roots and they grow with us. this past year it is far more than one or two...it is more like a dozen of committed to our animals people who you just know are here to stay.
when i say we have the best animals in the world here..i am not exaggerating at all....horses like gideon and pops, pigs like ellie and wilbur, crosby the turkey, tim bit the dim witted tiny duck, percy: the prince of all cows...we have shane, and the bambi's and jelly bean, our so sweet mystic, and al the star of all dogs...even the lost ones like james bond and stripe, or the wonderful cats still here like the rock....we have great animals who move us and motivate us into helping even more.
but it is the volunteers and the staff who have defined us..who have made us what we are today. they are the ones who step up to the plate to promote, to protect, to care for, to fundraise. they are the ones who take the initiative and pull out all of the stops to push saints into being a good place.
i don't know exactly how we survive year after year...when you look at the realities of the numbers...animals, dollars, the workloads and care levels for our elderly and sick ones..it should spell disaster.
i think especially in the past year..it is the committment and faith of the humans here and those that surround us that have made this another good year...and it really is their failth and committment that is the second part of the magic around here.
saints has been blessed with not only the most amazing animals but we have been blessed with the most incredible humans. that is the real consistent thread that binds us all together that i see wherever i look at the journey from the open house 2010 until now.
it is the milestones that we look back on and track to today that show me that this journey is more than just daily struggles..it is about moving towards something far greater than each singular good or bad day.