Last year my parents and grandmother moved to New Mexico. My parents got better paying teaching jobs and my grandmother got a job as a reporter for one of the local papers. It took them the better part of the summer to pack everything up and they worked through some very hot and sunny days. It was on one of those days that my mom decided to make a run to Sonic and get everyone a drink to cool down with while taking a break from packing boxes at my grandmother's house. She returned from Sonic and was walking to the front door of my grandmother's house when Lilly ran up to her and started jumping on her in a desperate attempt to get a soda out of her hand. It was obvious that she was thirsty so my mom walked over to the water hose and let Lilly drink until she was finished. When Lilly had finished drinking she turned and ran away further into the neighborhood. She came back a little while later when my mom was in the yard and asked for water again. When she came back for the third time my mom took a picture and posted about her on Facebook.
When we got to my parent's house and walked through the door I swear Lilly knew we were her fur-ever family. She ran over to us, sat down at Chris's feet and cried and peed all over the floor. She was SO excited. We stayed at my parent's house for several hours playing with Lilly and trying to get a feel for her personality. It was obvious that she hadn't been getting enough food. Her ribs weren't jutting out but they were clearly visible. She had no manners at all whatsoever. She was jumping on us and nipping at us, trying to do anything to get our attention. It was clear that whoever had been "caring" for her hadn't done their part with training or socialization. When she finally tired herself our we snuggled up on the couch. She put her head in my lap and quickly fell asleep. That was the first time I heard her snore and I started crying. It was the most precious thing I had ever heard and I knew right then that Lilly was going to be our baby girl forever.
We decided to take her home with us and see how things went over the weekend. If things didn't work out we were going to take her to a no-kill shelter that our vet runs in Oklahoma. I never had any intention of letting her go. One way or another I was going to make sure I kept her with us.