My best friend Chewy (18). 15 years ago he jumped from a shopping cart headed for euthanasia, and I was the lucky one he found.

Two days ago marked 15 years since I unexpectedly met my best buddy. I was at our local shelter with a friend who was adopting a cat when a worker walked by pushing a shopping cart. I caught a glimpse of the biggest, pointiest ears I'd ever seen sticking out of the top. I walked over (couldn't stop thinking about those ears!) and saw the most unique, handsome face staring back at me.

When I got closer, he jumped out of the cart and straight into my arms. He was stinky, scraggly, and shaking, and it turned out his time was up and he was actually in the process of being pushed to "the" room.

Adopting or fostering a dog was nowhere on my radar at the time, but twenty minutes later I was approved as his foster guardian. Since he looked a little like Chewbacca from Star Wars with all the scraggly fur, I named him "Chewy."

Fast-forward 15 years and I'm still "fostering" him. He's at least 18, maybe older, lots of white hair (like me, ha), mostly blind, and about 75% deaf. Our old fifteen-minute power walks have turned into forty-five-minute slow strolls. He's also beaten intestinal cancer and recovered from a massive seizure that we thought would leave him paralyzed.

He's still happy, goofy, and stubborn, and I'm just thankful he's made it to another holiday season.

Thanks for letting me share him!