A few years ago my wife, only in her 30s, was diagnosed with cancer. It was a horrible time for us. We were both scared, but the pain Julie endured throughout radiation and chemotherapy treatments was heartbreaking to witness. There was simply nothing I could do to make it stop.
The worst of it was happening around the Christmas holiday. During that same time, Mark Levin, a radio talk show host I particularly like to listen to while I'm at my easel, was urging his listeners to open their hearts and homes to a shelter pet that Christmas. Now, considering what my wife was going through and the fact that we'd lost both our 16 year old Husky and 16 year old cat just a few months apart earlier that same year, adopting a new pet was the last thing on my mind. But after hearing Mark's request about a half dozen times over a couple of weeks, I decided to just take a look at the animals at the local shelter. I had no real intention of actually getting one, but I considered maybe a cat or dog would give Julie something to focus on beside her pain.
My first visit to the shelter I had to wait to go back where the animals were held because a group of them were being euthanized. When I was finally allowed back, I found a beautiful orange and white adult cat, very affectionate that I knew Julie would love. I hadn't told her I was going to the shelter because I really didn't plan on adopting anything. Just looking. However, while I was there, I decided to take a look at the dogs also. There were some great looking animals there, some energetic, some loud, some pedigreed. At the very end of the row, in the darkest pen, was a quiet mixed-breed dog, not barking or jumping, but just slowly wagging his tail and looking through the chain links. Because he was mostly black and in the darkest pen, I couldn't really make out what he looked like, but I instantly liked him. However, this excursion wasn't about me but about my wife. So I left and called her and told her there was a nice cat there which I knew she'd love and that she should go take a look at it. She was surprised I'd even gone to the shelter but was clearly excited at the prospect of a new pet. A couple of hours later we met back at the shelter. She brought a pet carrier. To our surprise, in that short time someone else had come in and adopted the cat (it was the only one they had at the time). Julie was disappointed. I mentioned that I happened to look over the dogs while I was there before and one in particular stood out to me. She wanted to know which one so I told her she should go look at them herself and see if there are any she likes. As fate would have it, she picked the same one I had liked, so we asked the shelter operator if she could bring the dog out to another room with more light so we could see him.
He was a little nervous, but seemed very mild mannered. There was an instant bond between the three of us, but especially between my wife and the dog we would come to call Max. He slept on the floor on her side of the bed every night for months immediately following his adoption. When her pain was most unbearable following the chemo treatments he would not leave her side. He is a true friend and companion. I'm not so sure dogs like Max aren't evidence there are angels among us. Max's modeling debut is in the painting above titled "The Fan Club". I wanted to include him in this painting because he is the quintessential  "everyman's dog" and was perfect for the story I wanted to tell here. My human model in the painting is Rocky, a great Texas cowboy. And now to echo Mark Levin's words, if you're ready to open your heart and home to a new companion, please consider a shelter animal.