Gratitude in Daily Life

Giving tours at the Sanctuary is a wonderful experience to meet people from all over the nation, and sometimes from all over the world. This is one of the most rewarding aspects, and as time goes on, I realize it more and more. Through dealing with the public, our membership base, and long-time supporters, I've met so many fantastic, generous, compassionate people, from all walks of life. Often times, they are curious about me as well, mainly wondering how a person ends up working at a wolf Sanctuary in the middle of no where New Mexico.

Originally from Pennsylvania, about a year ago, I was attending school at Antioch College in Ohio, as a third year psychology major. My life's ambition for as long as I could remember was to achieve my doctorate in Experimental Psychology, and act as a research psychologist specializing in rare mental disorders. As Antioch has a co-op program, I was able to choose a job every other semester or so, and earn credit while gaining life experience. Toward the end, I wanted to go somewhere far away from the hassles of everyday life, do something totally out of my field, and spend some time studying for the GRE. Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary was one of the co-op opportunities, and this seemed like an interesting place.

My mother is a Wildlife Biologist, and while I've always loved animals, as typical, I subconciously rebelled against anything my mother was interested in. I never once considerd a career dealing with animals, especially not one that had anything to do with science. However, after spending two years of my life without so much as a dog by my side, coming to the Sanctuary and entering into enclosure for the first time rekindled a passion inside of me that for a short time was completely stifled.

To make a long story short, when I came to the Sanctuary, I planned to stay a little under three months, but when I got here, I fell in love, and, well, never left.

This is a magical place. Southern New Mexico has been a dream for my physical health, and being surrounded by dedicated people and an animal with more emotional power than one can imagine, has given me a sense of emotional freedom and peace that I had never dreamt could exist.

My time with these animals has meant more to me than any other experience in my life. To sit quietly in the enclosure of an animal who is typically so fearful of humans that the pacing never ends, and have them stop, three feet from your hand just to sniff the air the two of you share, is a reward greater than a thousand licks from different domesticated dogs. That trust, that bond, that understanding and acceptance-- It is enough to fuel one's entire self-esteem and make them feel worthy, loved, and whole -- more than anything a person, marred by the human deficiencies, could ever offer.

Sometimes, walking through the compound at night, or early in the morning, when not another human is in site or in hearing distance, I feel more at home and safe than I could with my entire family and friends around me. When the sun is just beginning to rise, the birds are chirping and the air is still-- when the sun is setting, the moon is rising, and the cool of night is beginning to rest on the earth -- and a howl, of fifty voices begins to echo through the area, so too does it echo in me. These voices, no matter how marred by human wrong-doings, have a power beyond what we can fathom changing. This is the soul of the earth, in audible form. And for that, I am thankful. And for that reason, I couldn't dream of somewhere I would rather be...