On Saturday morning of Memorial Day Weekend in 2014 I woke up without dog in my life. 12 hours later I was at San Francisco International Airport rolling a crate out of the International terminal to the parking lot and my life has not been the same since.

Kali, along with 23 other Golden Retrieves, had just landed after a 12 hour flight from Taiwan. She was the dog in the crate I was rolling through the terminal. We made it to the parking lot where the rescue group’s volunteers were processing the dogs and helping the adopters meet their new Goldens. I opened Kali’s crate and connected a leash as she emerged. We walked quickly to the edge of the parking lot and she peed. We loaded her into our SUV and drove home to Livermore.

That’s the short story. The long and more detailed story has been told through this blog over the past eleven years.

So here I sit on another Memorial Day remembering Kali, and remembering that evening at the airport where we first “met”.

We arrived back home in Livermore around 11:00 PM. Still on leash I walked Kali around our front yard, and then the back. We weren’t sure how she would act over night so I tethered her to the post of my bed and she laid down on her mat. Sometime in the middle of the night she nudged me with her wet nose. I took her out to pee and then re-tethered her to the bed. The next day we spent in the backyard and as Kali got familiar with her new home and surroundings I began this blog.

It didn’t take long for Kali to get acclimated. From the first day she was respectful of the house. It was immediately clear she wouldn’t need to be crated. We left it out for a few weeks in case she wanted or needed a safe space of her own. But Kali didn’t. She just wanted to be by my side or laying down at my feet.

Honestly, that long and highly anticipated weekend was quite anit-climatic! No drama. No accidents. No problems. No nothing. Just a lot of love. After just 48 hours Kali was fully acclimated to our routines, the smells, the sounds, and was eating meals side by side with my daughters 11 pound Morky (half maltise/half yorkshire terrier).

So that was one heck of a Memorial Day Weekend in 2014! I will never forget it or forget how my life was changed. That crate door opened, Kali emerged, and she immediately entered my open heart forever.