Selfie Sunday #7 - a love story about a dog and friendship

Can you see that we are totally in love?

The dog on this Selfie Sunday picture is a Golden Retriever named Cash and our story goes like this:

one day, about 5 years ago, I got in the elevator in our condo (The Sail@Marina Bay, Singapore). A woman got in the elevator, accompanied by the cutest little blond fur ball. Being crazy about cats and dogs, I fell in love on the spot.

The woman -her name is Celeste, as I learned later- responded to my enthusiasm by saying: “Well, feel free to contact me if you ever want to walk him or dog-sit him, ok? Here is my phone number.”

I don’t recall it so exactly, but Celeste does. As she remembers it, I already phoned her a few minutes later, right after we both had arrived in our apartments, asking her if I could meet with Cash the next day. She agreed and we met the next morning at the poolside of our condo. It turned out that she also took care of a second dog, the very old Malthezer Cupid. (RIP, Cupid.)

We talked and talked and met again. And again. It was the beginning of a love story (between me and Cash. I guess coming more from me then from Cash, hahaha, although he likes me a lot too. But then again: he likes almost everybody. Such a golden heart and sunny character) and of a special friendship. Because Celeste and I became BFF’s in Singapore. The fact that she is a lot younger then me and that she is a local while I’m a caucasian makes no difference for the depth of our friendship.

Cash has the happiest dog face I have ever seen and the sweetest character that you can imagine. He is very handsome too! What he lacks though, is good health.
In the beginning there were many worries, because his hips are not well built at all. The vet talked about risky, complicated and expensive surgeries. Celeste and I talked a lot about it, I went along with her and Cash to the vet, and in the end she decided to not do the surgery. Instead she would keep him slim (not too much weight on the hips) and let him swim (to train his body).

So far it turns out to be a good decision, since he leads a happy life with not too much pain.

I sometimes joke that I find my friends in the weirdest places. But it’s true. I have friends that I found via an ad in the paper, on FaceBook, on Flickr, via Instagram….. and Celeste and Cash….I found in an elevator.

This Selfie Sunday picture is very dear to me because of the story behind it, as you may understand now.

I think that moving around a lot has made me resourceful in making new connections. I simply had to. Being introverted and shy by nature, this is something I had to learn over time. Luckily I’m reasonably good at it now;-).

How about you? Do you make new friends easily? How does that go? Where do you encounter them? Do they take the initiative or are you the one who approaches them? Feel free to share in the comments below; I would love to hear from you!