My heart goes thump each time I see this photo.

I found these Five little babies discarded in a drainage ditch, Six years ago come May. They were only a day old at the time, their first moments of life in this big wide world. Their little eyes were closed so tight, their little ears folded back flush against their heads, their little noses and paws were pink with newness, they were so small, so helpless, so cold, and so hungry.  They were mewing like kittens for their mama, a mama that they had been cruelly separated from by human hands.

This is when life changed for me, abruptly, in a heartbeat. I took them home and bottle fed them (every hour for the first few days, every two hours for the week following that) and I learned, despite of how scared and doubtful I was of myself, how to be a mother to Five orphaned puppies, one day at a time.

I have them all still; Wolfie, Runty, Parmalat, Prairie & Sweety, and my heart goes thump each and every time one of them tucks their wet nose into the crook of my arm and looks up at me with their big gentle eyes, or every time one of them super excitedly kisses me awake in the morning, or every time one of them asks to be held on my lap like they are still only a day old..  or really, honestly, every moment of each beautiful day with them.

My heart goes thump.