Does everything happen for a reason?

With all that has gone on with Zeus over the last three weeks, I am left pondering this popular cliche.

Recap: Just over three weeks ago, Mike and I decided it was time to find Zeus a new home. Posted the add on KSL which produced about 800 page views, about 15 phone calls/messages, and five interviews in less than 24 hours. We were stunned by the interest and had a tough decision on our hands.

Following the interviews there were really only two families we were having a hard time deciding between. Leslie's family had a 7 yr. old boxer named Dexter, two older children, and someone was almost always home. Negatives at this home were that they didn't have a fenced yard, and with both Zeus and Dex being male, it took them a little bit of time to get used to each other. Oh, that and they lived in a brand new house in Saratoga Springs (which is on the west side of Utah Lake).

Patrick and Kristi also had a boxer named Xena. She is two and looks like she could be from Zeus' same litter. They got along great from the get go, as they didn't have to compete for Alpha. Patrick and Kristi don't have any children, and you can tell they just love Xena. And they live in Clinton...less than 10 minutes drive. The only thing we were concerned with here was that they kenneled Xena for 5-6 hours a day while they were at work, and we were worried Zeus would have a hard time with that.

After a LOT of thought, we chose Leslie's family. We missed Zeus instantly, though within the week we could see that this really was the best decision for our family.

Then on Sunday, Leslie called. "I'm sad to be having to make this call," she said. Things weren't working out. Zeus was having accidents all the time, running off when they let him out to go to the bathroom (to the extent that one time Aaron, the dad, had chased him for over a half hour but had to leave or he'd miss a flight. Luckily, Zeus was on the back porch when Leslie got home over two hours later.) I think the straw that broke the camel's back was when Zeus, jealous that he was locked in the bedroom during a social event, chewed at the baseboards in the bedroom. I apologized, and said that we would come and pick him up.

As we were making the drive down south, we gave Patrick and Kristi a call. Our hopes that they hadn't already found a friend for Xena were realized, but they said that they would think about it and call us back. So we brought Zeus home. It was actually kind of nice to have him back, as weird as that sounds, but the idea of going through the whole ordeal again was making us anxious. Patrick called yesterday afternoon and said that they would like to give it a trial run for a week or two. We packed up Zeus' things and headed over there last night.

So last night as I was getting ready for bed, I was thinking, maybe Zeus was meant to be with Xena all along but he just needed this other trial run first. Maybe Leslie's house wasn't a
"wrong" or a "bad" choice, just a preparatory state. Although I feel terrible that Leslie's family had to go through that, maybe it was just what had to be, and that everyone was better off because of it. I guess we'll see how it goes at Patrick and Kristi's this week, and then, maybe we'll know for sure.

Mike just sent me this picture he took with his phone of Zeus and Xena. See what we mean about how they look alike?