The story behind the happy life

Saturday is the day we’ve all been waiting for, because rain or shine my birthday party and pet adoption event is at Harley-Davidson at 5000 Mercer University Drive in Macon from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

Not only will we be near a really cool building with beautiful Harley-Davidson motorcycles all around, but also we’ll be spending the afternoon with some of the greatest rescue groups with the most wonderful dogs and cats you could ever meet. It’s just going to be an incredible day.

You may be new to reading my article and wonder who I really am and what all the hoopla is about celebrating my birthday. I think it’s a sweet story if I do say so myself. So I’ll share it with you.

I was born 9 years ago at the end of a very cold January. I don’t really remember my mom but I’m sure she cared about me and did her best to take care of me. Then somehow or another when I was very, very young, maybe about 2 weeks old, just after my eyes opened, someone took me and left me in the driveway of a stranger and rode away.

I didn’t have a sweater, a blanket or a doghouse. I remember being very cold lying on the icy concrete driveway. The lady who lived at the house tried to console me but she wouldn’t bring me inside where it was warm.

Instead, she called animal control at the end of the day and told them there was a stray dog in her driveway. She failed to tell them I was a tiny baby only a few weeks old.

Since it was almost closing time, animal control told her they would come the next day to pick me up. Again she didn’t mention I was a fragile little baby. And again she refused to bring me inside where I could’ve been warm.

Instead, I stayed outside on the coldest night of the year with no covering, shelter or food whatsoever. I remember shivering because I was colder than I’d ever been and crying because I was all alone and scared. Still I lay on the frosty cement driveway.

At some point my body temperature dropped down to freezing and after that I don’t remember much of the night. Then I remember it was daylight and a very nice man gently picked me up and put me in a warm truck.

I was taken to animal control where the veterinarian examined me. His report was bleak. I heard him say I would not survive because I was frozen and my body temperature was too low to recover.

That’s when a really nice man, Van VanDeWalker, who is now my dad, said he was taking me home with him so I wouldn’t die at the pound all alone. He wanted me to know someone loved me so he took me home to die.

When I got there, Tracie VanDeWalker, who is now my mom, put me on a dreamy warm heating pad and fed me delicious warm food. This was the greatest feeling in the world. Then something happened.

I felt like two people really cared about me. Even though I had been sent home to die, with these two people trying so hard to make me live maybe I should try hard, too. All of a sudden I wanted to live and I felt like I my life had a purpose. So I fought death with everything my tiny body could muster.

As it turned out, I did have a purpose in life. I learned that when I met Patti Jones, who is now my aunt. She said my purpose was to connect with her nonprofit animal group, Central Georgia CARES, and advocate for all the homeless, scared, hurting animals who were just like me. I would be their spokesman. I would help them be safe. I would help them find families who would love them forever. And I would teach people how to care for them and to be kind to animals.

So here we are nine years later and I’m reflecting on a life well lived fulfilling my purpose. I will continue to spend the rest of my working with CARES to help animals and the people who love them.

I hope to see you today at Harley-Davidson as we celebrate nine years of this work.

This story was originally published January 25, 2018 at 6:53 PM with the headline "The story behind the happy life."