To Be Loved For Nothing- Apple and Apeksha

To Be Loved For Nothing

On some days, I like my husband a little more than I do on others. 9th Nov 2024 will go down as the day I liked him the most.

We were on our way to meet Julie, our passively adopted dog at The Freedom Farmhouse. In the middle of our excited chatter about the day ahead, he turned to me and said, “Apeksha, you are a dog mom. You should have a dog!”

My husband played his cards well. Taking someone with a sweet tooth to a candy store and asking, “Do you want candy?” is hardly a question.

But this wasn’t really a spur-of-the-moment decision. I had been religiously following the dog updates on the @freagles.of.india page for nearly two years. We’d shared countless adoption posts, and by then, the only thing holding us back was my fear of change. Something made me take the leap of faith that day.

After the decision came the hard part - picking just one dog from a sea of good dogs. Julie, Karen, and Sadhna (all ex-breeder mummas) stood out naturally to us due to the previous interaction we had with them.

But while we were making our plans, another dog had made her own. Saira, my beautiful puppy, caught my husband’s eye while she was moving around, bumping into other dogs as she went. Amused, he said, “Look at that dog! He’s funny, he keeps bumping into other dogs.” I corrected him, “It’s a she. Her name is Saira, and she is blind.” Bewildered, he said, “But she has been climbing the steps!”

We were under the impression that she might not be up for adoption, so we did not bring her up at the time. We asked for some more time to think it over and left.

On our way back, I came across Saira’s post. The moment I confirmed that she was up for adoption, he said, with no hesitation, “Please, let us have Saira.”

That’s it, that’s where he peaked in our relationship.

The thing is - I chose her too. But I chose her with her context. I selfishly wished to be her happily ever after.

My husband chose her simply because he liked her the best. He did not choose the blind dog. He chose her. She deserved that.

Looking back, it feels like she was the one pulling me to her all along. I became a passive adopter to Julie only a few months after Saira was rescued in Oct 2023.

In June 2024, we had our first visit to meet Julie. It was a day that I will never forget. We were strangers who turned up empty-handed, and yet we were received with so much love by the dogs. It is a rare thing in life to be loved for nothing. It made me feel joy, and then it made me weep.

Among the dogs was also my Saira. I remembered from one of the stories that she follows the sound of her name to find you, so I called out to her. She came for a very brief moment, I stroked her head a few times, and then she left.

But the dog I met that day didn’t quite feel like the dog we got to bring home. I remember wishing her good health because she looked very fragile at the time, and she walked really slowly.

The day we got to bring her home, she looked like she had de-aged in the last six months, and that phenomenon has continued well into our home, with our friends and family gasping at us when we tell them that she is around thirteen years old.

Fear has always had a strong grip over me. It has kept my life small in many ways. But in making this one decision, I let my fear go and embraced love, and it has made my life big.

People say a senior dog won’t love you. The vet bills will cost you a fortune and they will leave you too soon.

And here I have been for the last eighteen months, smiling every day on the bus back home. I bring her no pots of gold, and she asks for none. It’s a rare thing in life to be loved for nothing. It makes you feel joy and it makes you weep.

- Apple's human, Apeksha