The Miracle Boy

There is a famous saying which most of you would have heard that goes, “If you’re lucky, a dog will come into your life, steal your heart and change everything”. I couldn’t agree more honestly and the pup that came into our lives, not just changed everything for us, but also saved my life in all true sense. Since childhood, I was never one of those people who used to love dogs or any animal crazily. I used to like looking at the cute pictures or videos and approach the ones which are calm and small in size that too very hesitantly.  Not even in my wildest dreams did I ever think that my life would flip totally with an addition of a pet. Growing up, we never had dogs at home so I never knew what unconditional love is. One of my cousins always had pets at home and I would either run away when I visit them or ask them to either leave the dogs in a room or hold them the entire time I'm at their place as I was so scared. 

On the contrary, my husband is an ardent pet lover and back home at his place, they have always had pets at home. After moving to Australia, I slowly started petting little dogs whenever we used to see them. But somehow I wasn’t ready to bring home one. It was 2019 December on the day of Christmas that something within me changed. We had gone out with friends and since the weather was hot, we all stopped at an ice cream shop. While coming out of the shop, I noticed a Labrador girl who was just sitting there so calm & quiet and we stopped there to say hello. Until then, I had never had an eye contact with a dog the way I had with this one. She was literally just looking at me for so long and for the first time ever, it felt very very different. I have spoken about her for days & was later on ready to bring home one as well. I used to tell hubby all the time that whenever we bring home one, I want it to be a Labrador as that beautiful labby girl completely changed my perspective. So, we started looking for one slowly. But 4 months later COVID hit the entire world and everything stopped. Nearly 10 months passed & one day, I was at work when I got a call & hubby said there are two Labrador boys available. He sent some pictures & we both were just going "aww how adorable, how cute etc etc". But because of COVID, we couldn't go & meet them personally before we decide which one to bring home, it was all through face-time. We applied for one of the puppies but within minutes another couple confirmed they are going to get him. So, we went ahead with the other brother and there he was, our little fellow who was absolutely stunning , squish-worthy and looked like a ball of fluff. We decided to name him Archie. He was a 6 kilo green eyed boy when we saw him for the first time. When we went to get him, we cried & we couldn't believe we were actually going back home with him. Since it was peak lockdown, we couldn't have anyone at home to celebrate his arrival. We started doing video calls to both our families & close friends to share the news. Everyone were surprised and they all loved him. Some of our friends who were scared of dogs were as well happy to play with him or cuddle him later on.

  

  

   

 

Amidst all these, little did I know what I was getting myself into. It took us a while to understand what was right for this little fellow & what wasn't. They are just like babies and as days & months passed, we were going through emotions that we have never & ever felt before. I had never experienced unconditional love like this and I must say, the feeling is absolutely MAGICAL. The way they respond to all our emotions, the way they show love, the way they make you feel with those puppy eyes, everything is just MAGICAL. I started changing as a person ever since Archie entered our lives and I'm still changing. The innocence he has makes us cry for no reason at times. Initially, I used to pretty much cry everyday when I see him as I was feeling so bad to have taken him away from his mother. My emotional health hit a totally new phase after developing that connection. But I'm super grateful for his presence in our lives. When he was a puppy, even if someone fake cries, he would just go near them & try to lick their face to show love. When we play such pranks with humans, they know after a point that it's a prank and they won't fall for it but these babies are so innocent that they fall for it every time. When we take him for a walk, people often give a second stare looking at his size but within seconds he will show them what kind of a goof ball he is 😃Some of the experiences we have had with him are so hilarious, be it him running towards an Irish Wolfhound who was 3 times bigger & taller than him & me slipping off with him & sliding through muddy patch trying to catch him, or him going crazy wherever he sees lakes, ponds or river or hubby getting fooled by those puppy eyes & giving him more food while he would have just finished his meal or even the way he acts goofy when he is trying to impress other dogs especially females 😅 I'm having a giggle as I remember each of these incidents & many more. Until Archie chose us, I used to feel I have my list of some of the best things to have happened to me, but now I feel, Archie entering our lives is the bestest thing I could have ever asked for. 

    

    

   

 

My stint with depression wouldn't have slowed down this much if not for his presence. Dogs are so innocent & yet so intelligent and Labradors especially are the preferred breeds for Seeing-Eye dogs, guide dogs, bomb detectors, police dogs etc because of their intelligence and how quickly they get trained. Archie wasn't trained to be any of the above but he alerts and feels for us of a lot more things than we imagined. He just wants to us to be with him all the time as we are 'his' only pack. We humans have so many people around us to call as family & friends but these babies literally have only us and they have to depend on us for each and everything. Sometimes we feel like cancelling all our plans just to take him to a beach, to a park, to a furbaby date or to just be home with him. I have definitely come to believe that they choose the ones who they feel need an understanding of unconditional love. I'm so glad he walked into our lives teaching us the importance of so many things. Out of the thousand best memories with him, I want to write about two incidents that completely gobsmacked me about his behavior. 

   

   

 

This first incident was during the peak of my depression & the anti-depressant phase. One evening, hubby had a catch-up with his friends & hence I had taken Archie for a walk alone. I was on some call where an unwanted conversation happened which triggered me emotionally. I could physically sense my anger growing & I also suddenly started feeling out of breath. I called my amma immediately to tell her what happened and she asked me to calm down and was giving me breathing counts while I started walking back home. I was so scared I'm going to fall somewhere on my way. As soon as we reached home, I had kept some meat ready for Archie & I left him in the backyard with his food. While I was doing all these, I was subconsciously thinking about the phone conversation & whatever happened after that & it was draining me so much mentally. I was walking towards my room and every step I walked, I was feeling heavy, I was feeling like I'll faint anytime soon. When I entered the room, I just fell flat on the bed, my heart was beating so fast that I literally felt I was going to pass out. I could feel i'm sweating so much, I wasn't able to breathe properly and I was literally trembling with fear. I just hugged a pillow tight to my tummy for at least a minute as the body trembling didn't stop and I was feeling the pain physically & mentally. Once it felt a little okay, I opened my eyes & broke down. It felt like I was out of a super bad dream but it happened in real. First time in my life, I experienced a panic attack like this. It was so bad that any words to describe it won't do justice. I felt so bad about what I have done to myself that I started crying profusely into the pillow and started screaming into it. I even tried to harm myself out of frustration. Literally seconds after that, I could hear the barking from my backyard. I don't know if Archie was barking continuously for a while and I heard it only then as I was coming back into senses. I slowly got up to go open the door for him and I noticed from the glass door, he hadn't finished his chicken. I was so confused as chicken is his most favorite and he never refuses to eat it & always finishes it. The moment I opened the door, he rushed inside & started whining and started licking my foot, walking around me in circles with tail continuously wagging & doing a couple of jumps. I stood there STUNNED, ABSOLUTELY STUNNED as I realised that he discovered I wasn't doing fine and that's why he was barking continuously. His whinings were probably his cries to show the concern or to ask me how I am or let me know he is there for me. I was standing there without moving an inch and tears rolling down my eyes. It was winter, it was freezing, anyone who knows me well, knows that I cannot tolerate cold weather but here, I had the backyard door open and I was sitting in the cold and crying so much holding him. He licked my face, my hand, he just kept on pawing at me and for a few seconds, he even kept his face on my lap. I honestly don't remember how long I cried for, but once I regained sense, I realised I was freezing in the cold and by then he had gone back to finish his chicken. This incident left me with a feel that I truly & honestly cannot express. If not for his barks that night to pop the bubble that I was in, I don't know what I would have done to myself & how I would have harmed myself. He truly & in all sense, saved me that night.

   

 

Whenever I wasn't feeling well or coping with the anti-depressant medications & stuff or trying to make sense of the therapy sessions I was going through, his presence would make all the difference in the world for me. There were multiple incidents every now & then when I used to breakdown & I knew I would be okay when I see him. Another incident that left us speechless was after an event I hosted for a friend's family. There was a milestone birthday celebration and I had prepared myself a lot for that day as it had been more than an year since I hosted any event. But a couple of incidents happened before the event which hampered my confidence so much that I forgot a lot of my lines when I went on stage. I messed it up completely and felt extremely bad & guilty. The whole way back home was super emotional for me and I kept crying. We reached home & Archie as usual was his friendly self greeting both of us at the door. I just sat on the couch feeling sad and was still sobbing. Archie knew I was sad and he sat in front of the couch & was noticing me throughout. While discussing further, my voice started trembling and I started crying a lot more and his immediate reaction was he ran towards me, sat next to me and kept both his paws on my lap and looked into my eyes. He was so scared by the way I was crying that he got super worried and he was literally sitting with both his paws on my lap for almost a minute and just looking at me with that head tilt. Regardless of how many words I use, I just cannot describe that feeling. I broke down even louder when this happened as these are all experiences that one can never explain. You just have to feel them & we were truly the lucky ones to have felt it. These two incidents with Archie left such a longing impression within me that I kept on replaying them in my head again & again and I just felt so grateful & happy that Archie chose us to be his fur parents and he has only been magical. In fact, I started healing quicker than I actually thought I would only because of him. While my therapist was helping me one side, there was my Archie on the other side reminding me every single day of how much he loves me. Everyday when I would come back home from work, I knew he would jump around & welcome me. Whenever that happened, I could actually feel the stress & anxiety leaving my body physically and it happens quite literally. Those who have felt it, will definitely agree to this.

   

   

   

    

 

One after the other, he started giving us memories & life lessons which I swear I had never imagined I would experience. My love & compassion towards animals increased 100,000 folds after his arrival in our lives. Soon after a lot of these experiences, we went to India and I discovered something about myself which no one from my family imagined. The first thing I did when I went to India was to go buy a lot of dog biscuits as I always wanted to keep some in my bag. I would literally stop by whenever I used to see some of the street dogs and preferred spending time with them. I have never enjoyed sitting and watching animals spend time with their own species, I have never really broken down in the middle of a road when I witnessed a dog who had lost one leg but was still roaming around wherever he sees humans thinking someone might give him food, myself & hubby were together when hubby was frantically looking for a bakery or some meat shop where we can buy something and feed those babies, every time someone shoos away a dog which was probably hungry, I would feel so heartbroken, every time I see someone tie their dogs to a chain and leave them unattended, I would feel like lashing out at them left right & center. I realised all these emotions were super high for me because I was imagining our boy Archie in their place and kept wondering why can't these babies have the same life as Archie. Even in my wildest dreams, I cannot imagine Archie going through these things and there I was witnessing hundreds and thousands of animals going through abuse and negligence. Days & months passed after coming back to Melbourne from India but my heart is probably still there with those helpless animals. Not even a day goes wherein myself & hubby don't discuss about these beautiful babies. After these many years, I have finally realised what my purpose of life is and what would actually make me happy and that purpose is looking after these babies who only want love & care. None of the other trips to India made us think so much about relocating back but this trip left such a longing impression that we still even to this day discuss about when we can relocate. It requires a lot of hard work to bring this to reality, a purpose like this needs time, money & planning and I feel very light that we have finally realised what we want to do and are working towards it. 

   

All these would have never happened if not for Archie's entry in our lives. He walked in and literally changed everything for us and that's why I call him The Miracle Boy, the one who has brought immense joy to us, the one who saved my life, the one who made us realize that our purpose of life is to give a voice to the voiceless. Everyone who has met Archie have shown so much love to him as this boy deserves every ounce of it and so do the other animals :)