Dear North Shore Animal League America,

On the night of April 23rd 2008, my daughter Amy (19) and I were sitting at my mom's dinning room table. We were both feeling a little out of place, because I had just sold our home in Long Island, and we had moved in my mother's apartment. We had been trying to find an apartment for ourselves to no avail. I asked Amy, "What would make you feel better?" She replied, "Can we go look at dogs, at North Shore Animal League America?" I complied, and we left. It was about 7:30 pm and we were about 45 minutes away from the Animal League, so I felt safe knowing that it would be too late to adopt a dog. You see, we were not in our home, so I did not think it would be wise to bring more problems into my mom's home.

Once we arrived, we were told that it was too late to adopt, but that we were welcome to look. As we looked around, I asked if there were any puppies. We were then escorted into the puppy room, and my daughter stared to look around. There in the corner there was what looked like one giant fur ball. You could not see a beginning or an end. We asked one of the ladies there, "What is that?" She laughed and opened the gate. She said, "It’s a brother and sister sleeping, they were born here about 6 weeks ago." One was white and the other was golden in color. I asked to see the boy. As she pulled out this little fur ball, my daughter fell in love. I said "Don't get attached because it's closing time, maybe we could come back tomorrow, and try." As I said these words, someone came up be hind me and said that they were holding a window open for us to adopt. I thought to myself, "Oh my God, my mom is going to kill me." My daughter started screaming "Mommy please, just look at him." One look at him was all it took. The rest is history.

Brooklyn, as we call him, is the love of our lives, and Grandma's baby. We all worked together on training and raising him. It was a great bonding time for all of us. He is spoiled and the King to both homes. You see, we moved out in January 2008, not far, just around the corner. Grandma cried when we left (to this day we are not sure if it was for us or for Brooklyn) and made us promise that she too would continue to be part of Brooklyn's life. So every morning, Mr. Brooklyn is dropped off at grandma's for babysitting.

Thank you North Shore Animal League America for all that you do, and the love that you share with all of us. Brooklyn keeps my mom active at 72 years old with their long walks in the park. He is my daughter's best friend, and the love of my life.

May God bless you all, and thank you for all the work that you do.

Tracy Ortiz