Sandy, come home

You know how life sometimes puts so many obstacles in your path, it feels as if you’re climbing a mountain and never going to get to the top? Then you do reach the top and you can finally exhale. That’s how I felt on Memorial Day weekend 2005, when my five-year-old daughter, Gabrielle, our German shepherd-chow mix, Sandy, and I moved into our own home at last.

It wasn’t that long a drive from the duplex we’d been renting to our new house, but it seemed we were embarking on a whole new life—a life full of hope and joy instead of the struggles and challenges that accompany being a single mom after a divorce.

Gabrielle watched intently as we drove through our new neighborhood and pulled into our driveway. “Are