A few years after Paulie's Journey was created on Facebook, I decided to write a poem that would take the reader through his adoption journey. While standing in my kitchen, I took out my phone and on the Notes app, started punching it out. From start to finish, 10 minutes. Not too shabby for a novice, if I do say so myself. I had my husband read it and I got the thumbs up. From time to time, I would make minor changes to it and then consider it done. I wasn't sure about posting this on Paulie's Facebook page because I didn't know how it would be received. A week later, I did post it and was well received. Many of his followers told me they cried after reading it. I wasn't expecting that response and wasn't sure if that was the reaction I had striving for. A few months later, I was invited to recite the poem on Facebook live to the followers for the shelter. We were promoting an upcoming fundraiser for the shelter and since Paulie had a large following, many in which followed the shelters Facebook page, putting a face to his page was suggested. By the time I was finished reading the poem, the manager of the shelter had tears in her eyes. I tried very hard to keep my emotions in check while I read the final verses.
Currently, I decided to go back and add more verses to the original poem. It covered the timeline Paulie was in the shelter than at a dog sitters home to get him out of the stressful environment. I'm having writer's block from when he left the sitters home to traveling to the shelter to meet us. I believe it was November 1, 2014. When it's finished, I'll be making it into a children's book. My goal is to see my vision come to life within a year or so.
