A Christmas Wish

To the Editor: 
My Christmas wish is to see our old puppy. 
Two young men have lost both of their parents, one in July 2017 and the other last month, October 2017. After losing their first parent, one brother was placed with their grandparents and the older brother chose to stay with his other parent.
The other remaining parent was in and out of the house, basically abandoning the young man and the house. The older brother would not leave that house because he did not want to give his puppy Rueben up because the grandparents said there wasn’t enough room.
He said it was the only thing he had left that was good from his first parent. I agreed to foster the puppy for a couple months hoping that the grandparents could work out a way to make room.
I brought Rueben into our home, began training him, wormed him and got him neutered and shots. We all grew very fond of him, especially my 3-year-old who played with him constantly.
However, I did not want another dog and after speaking to the grandparents and learning they would not be moving anytime soon, I placed Rueben up for adoption on an online adoption site. I received three inquiries and went with the first woman who lived in North Jersey, I am from Court House.
I explained Rueben’s background and asked her if she did decide to adopt him if she would allow us to come visit him to make sure he was okay. She said that would be fine.
In the meantime, I received an inquiry from a woman in North Cape May. I really wished I had gotten her inquiry first, because it would be so much more convenient to go see him than driving an hour and a half away, but I kept my appointment and my word to give this other woman the first shot.
Then it just so happened that the woman from North Jersey rescheduled, then tried to reschedule again, but she wasn’t sure when, so I explained that I had a local woman who was also interested and that it would also be more convenient for us to go see him after the adoption. She said then we’ll call it fate.
I called the woman in North Cape May. She met us at the ferry and liked him.
I told her the circumstances, and she said it would be fine if we could come see him to ease our minds that all was good. She decided to adopt him later that day and came to my house to pick him up.
The young man was very happy he would be able to make sure Reuben was okay and would be going to a nice, local family. When she came to pick him up, my daughter went hiding and crying, and the woman and I both assured her it was okay, and we could go visit him to make sure he was okay.
The adoption was about six weeks ago. My daughter is constantly asking when she can go see Rueben.
She has two toys she wants to give him. About three weeks after the adoption, the young man lost his second parent.
I have been telling him, “I’m sure she’ll give us a call soon … I’m sure Rueben is fine…” If you are reading this, please find it in your heart to let us see him, just once.