You've Got Gordon Mail!

I spent my entire life wanting a dog of my own, but it wasn't until my husband and I bought our first house two years ago that we were finally able to welcome one into our lives. From the moment I laid eyes on him, I knew Gordon was going to be a special dog. He has the sweetest personality and the most contagious happy attitude—it’s hard to be in a bad mood when he is around. He has a way of bringing smiles of joy to everyone he meets. Gordon has quite literally been an answer to my many, many years of prayers.

My husband and I live in Kentucky, but my family resides in Kansas, where I am originally from. The first Christmas we had Gordon, we took him on a cross-country road trip to meet my family. It was love at first sight for all involved. My nieces and nephews in particular adored him. With his gentle loving spirit, he was smitten with them as well. In the following weeks and months, we spent many hours facilitating video chats between Gordon and the kids.

As a result of living several hundred miles away from our nieces and nephews, we have to be creative in how we communicate with them. Because of their mutual love, it seemed only natural to use pictures of Gordon to create cards and postcards to send to the kids. I cut, pasted, stickered, wrote funny captions...anything I could think of that would make them smile. Every month I sent a new card chronicling Gordon’s adventures or holiday greetings to them.

As their interest in the cards grew, I found myself making more elaborate and interesting cards. My cards started to catch on with other family members and I found my occasional Gordon card to the kids evolving into a free monthly card service for my extended family members.

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, I realized that those cards were more important than ever. People were desperate for hope, joy, or anything that could break up the chaos that was Covid-19. I decided to include as many people as I could think of that might be able to use some cheer--extended family, friends, coworkers, widows, shut-ins and anyone else I could think of who would appreciate cute mail from a cute dog.

Mid-pandemic, we were also able to welcome a little sister for Gordon -- a Texas Cattle Dog named Gertie. Gertie brought a fun new personality to the mix, so my cards were able to go to an entirely new level. My new cards had moving parts and pieces and fun interactive elements for the recipients to experience. What started out as 2-3 cards a month turned into 70+ cards each month.

My favorite card was the one we used to introduce Gertie to our family and friends. It had a picture of Gordon lighting the fuse to a firecracker, and multiple glittery paper fireworks that moved (thanks to some scissors and a brass brad) to reveal that we had gotten him a new little “firecracker”… a sister named Gertie. It was a big hit!

Towards the end of April 2021, health issues forced me to reconsider my ability to continue at the current pace, so I decided to do one final card. I wanted to do a yearbook style card that celebrated all of the pets of our card recipients as a thank you for following along all these 18 plus months. The Happy Paws Academy yearbook card turned out wonderfully. We had pictures of over 45 dogs, cats (and even one bird) from our friends and family in the yearbook. It was incredibly heartwarming to see people’s reactions to having their pet included in this project.

It was incredible seeing how these two dogs brought so much joy to other people. I look forward to seeing what other kinds of craft projects my sweet pups and I can work on together in the future.