About this time last year, Jannette Adams had a crippling case of the COVID blues. She felt lonely and adrift.
She had retired from her fund-raising and grant-writing job at Mississippi Valley the previous year. Her husband, Thomas, had died five years earlier, and her two sons, Thomas and Kevin, live in Madison and Oxford. Her church, Missionary Union Baptist, where she was choir director went to virtual services.
“I never thought COVID would last this long,” she said. “I started feeling empty. The days get long when you’re by yourself.”
She needed a project, a companion, something.
Out of desperation she started visiting the Columbus-Lowndes Humane Society website. The pickings were slim.
“There were a ton of pit bulls,” she said. “There weren’t any little dogs.”
And then she saw Mae and Kay, medium-sized pups, sisters of indefinable heritage. Mae was the one for her, or so she thought. Adams went to the Humane Society for an introduction. Though Mae made a favorable first impression, Adams said she wanted to sleep on it. In the meantime Mae was adopted.
Which left Kay, who, in the absence of her sister, greeted Adams by huddling in the corner of her cage and shaking.
“I didn’t need a dog I had to psychoanalyze,” Adams said.
She persisted, returning to the Humane Society with treats. The courtship was successful.
The first order of business was a new name. My mother used to call me every night before going to bed, and she would call me “Sister.”
Good-bye Kay, hello Sister.
The two seem to be made for each other.
“She’s filled a big hole in my life,” says Adams. “She’s a very smart dog, uber-intelligent.”
The dog she complained about having to psychoanalyze is now returning the favor.
“She seems to know when I’m not where I need to be,” Adams said. “When I’m not 100 percent, she’ll come and lie at my feet.”
Sister, for her part, seems to have fared well in the 10 months she has been with Adams. At the start of each day, her new best friend scrambles her an egg. She demands and gets Rachael Ray Nutrish dog food.
“I never thought I’d care as much for a dog,” says Adams. “My friends say, ‘You talk more about that dog than your kids.'”
She describes the Humane Society as one of the most undervalued organizations in the city. “They were wonderful,” she said. “It was much busier than I expected. The staff is very caring and kind.”
Adams served on the Columbus School Board from 1992 to 2006.
“I never understood why he had such a passion (for the Humane Society),” Adams said, speaking of Glenn Lautzenhiser, a fellow school board member and longtime volunteer for the organization.
In the 10 months Adams and Sister have been together they have become like, well, family.
She said she knew she was committed recently when the temperature was 12 degrees outside and Sister needed to go out.
“‘Let Mommy put on her shoes,’ I told her.”
Adams continued.
“You know they say a dog is a man’s best friend; she’s turned out to be mine.”
Birney Imes III is the immediate past publisher of The Dispatch.
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