I personally don't like getting my mail.

It's either bills or junk or offers to re-finance my student loans -- ad nauseam.

Well yesterday, I got a card in the mail, and found this on the front of it...

... and found this inside...

A thank you from the staff at the Fayetteville Animal Shelter for the work I've done with them over the past year.

The Jonesies, the Rossis, the Clems, the Crebs...

...the staff took an easy minute out of their day to thank me for that.

And for words like this, I am thankful -- honestly.

Rescue is hard work, from any angle.

There are the victories of the placements, and of "righting the wrongs", but there are also the many hours spent caring for the animals, reviewing applications (thanks, pb-smiles' mods!) and doing actual home-visits and placements.

Well, words like these make everything worthwhile.

It's easy to pass through the days in a self-focused way -- but doing things like this definitely makes me happier.

Fast-forward 60 years, when I'm unable to move much, or if I'm able to move at all -- !! -- and I will have this exact card in my hands, re-reading it, knowing life had treated me well, and that I made a difference to these people and for these pups.

So thank you, to the folks at Fayetteville, for making this last year a great one, and thank you to everyone up North who helped so hard to recuperate the starving Crebs', to obedience train the deaf Jonesy's, and to love the neglected Clem's -- it means the world to us, and to them.