BY ANNE MULLER
By now everyone has a Katrina connection & if not, should - ours is
Mariah
Moria Holland, the amazing New Orleans dog rescuer, came to visit with
the many dogs she had rescued from a shelter in New Orleans.
All were slated to die within hours of her arrival the shelter. She
drove back north hopeful that the promises of adoption and foster would
pan out. We had promised to adopt one or two very small dogs to add to our
family of Lilliputians.
When Maria came with all relatively large dogs, we chose the smallest…a
medium sized “pug mix” (according to the vet), but what bundle of energy.
Nevertheless, she was a cutie and we named her “Moria”after her rescuer.
After several days, Pete said, “Do you know that ‘Moria’ means ‘wind’”?
He handed me the lyrics of the well known song.
Way out west, they got a name
For rain and wind and fire
The rain is Tess, the fire’s Joe and
They call the wind Mariah
Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, music by Frederick Loewe
I thought it an amazing coincidence that the name we gave to this dog,
a Katrina Hurricane victim, meant “wind.” At that moment we changed the
spelling of her name to “Mariah.” While the pronunciation remained the
same, the significance of the name changed. It was Mariah’s and our
secret.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t keep her because of my other little dog
who’s a true tyrant, though a fraction of Mariah’s size. One day,
sweet-natured Mariah was in her usual bouncy mood when she playfully
danced on little Taco and threw Taco’s back out of alignment. After a
sonogram, the vets discovered a large tumor in Taco’s spleen, which later
turned out not to be malignant, and both the tumor and the spleen were
removed.
We had to find a permanent home for Mariah.
We were so fortunate to have found a loving home for her only three
miles away so we can visit.
By now, Mariah has settled in and I hear it’s a mutual admiration
society.
They travel together, snuggle together, and go for long walks on their
13-acre property.
At first, we tried to post her photo to a site attempting to locate her
family in New Orleans, but the question regarding the streets where she
was found couldn’t be answered, and the pitiful site wouldn’t accept the
post without that information.
We hope and pray that her New Orleans family trusts that she’s in a
loving home. They’ll always be a part of her as she will be with them. We,
too, will never forget her though she was only with us for three weeks.
We’ve made it known to the new family that our home is always open to
Mariah should they not be able to keep her, just as her wonderful
rescuer, Moria, let us know the same when she left her with us.
So Mariah now has many friends who care about her.
We’re so grateful for having been given the opportunity to have
experienced her beautiful, playful nature. We wish you well, Mariah!
Oh, and Taco has totally recovered from her surgery and is back to her
nasty self.
