A weekend in Sarzana: Bulla meets her sister after five years
Last weekend we took the car and drove to Sarzana, a small town in Liguria not far from the sea. The reason was special: Bulla, our almost-six-year-old dog, was about to see her sister Eva for the first time since she was adopted five years ago.
Some history. Six years ago, Bulla and Eva were rescued from a bad situation and taken into a foster family that nursed them back to health. They stayed together for about a year, two puppies learning to trust humans again. Then Eva found her forever home with a family in Sarzana. Bulla stayed with us.
Five years passed. We kept in touch, shared photos, said we should meet. Like a lot of things you mean to do but somehow never get around to.
This time we did.
Image shot with my phone: Bulla and Eva walking side by side along the canal, harmony visible in every step.
The first photo shows the moment that made the whole trip worth it. Eva and Bulla walking side by side along a canal, close, in complete harmony. Behind them there's me talking to Eva's adoptive parent: the man and his wife who gave Eva a home. Behind all of us, in the distance, a pink-walled house surrounded by greenery. It looks like a postcard. It felt like one too.
They recognised each other immediately. No hesitation, no awkward sniffing. Just two sisters picking up where they left off, five years disappearing in a wag of a tail.
Image shot with my phone: The old photo of Bulla and Eva as puppies, tiny and defenceless but already safe.
This second photo is from six years ago, when they were still puppies. Fresh out of the situation they were rescued from, tiny and fragile but already safe. Looking at these two little creatures, you would never guess what they had been through. Just sweetness.
I keep coming back to this image. It reminds me that rescue works. That the time and money and energy you put into pulling dogs out of bad situation: it actually leads to moments like the one in the first photo. Six years later, two happy dogs, two families connected by a shared decision to say yes.
Image shot with my phone: Me and Bulla at the beach, entering the water while she watches the waves with no intention of jumping in.
This one is me and Bulla at the beach, shot from behind. We're walking into the water, still on the wet sand where the waves break. The sea is a bit rough, not wild but definitely not calm. I'm wearing colourful swim trunks. Bulla is paying close attention to the waves, studying them, evaluating them but she has no intention of going in. She's a watcher, not a swimmer. 😀
I love this photo because it captures something real about her personality. She likes to observe, to assess, to decide on her own terms. Even at the beach, even with the water right there, she won't be pushed into anything.
Image shot with my phone: Bulla playing on the beach with a friendly black-and-brown dog we met during the walk.
On the beach walk we met a woman with her dog, a black-and-brown male, about five years old, wolfish in his features. Bulla played with him for a solid half hour. Sprinting along the shoreline, circling each other, stopping to catch their breath and then going again.
And that was fine. Dogs are not sentimental about these things the way we are. Bulla loves her sister, but a new friend on the beach is also a good thing. We could learn something from that.
Image shot with my phone: The lunch table: spritz in the glasses and guazzetto with croutons on the plates.
And this is the lunch that Eva's adoptive family prepared for us. Spritz in the glasses, and on the plates a guazzetto (a kind of rich seafood stew) with croutons. Simple, generous, made with care.
There is something beautiful about sitting at a table with people who took in a dog from the same litter as yours, five years ago, and are now feeding you lunch in their home. No formality. No awkwardness. Just the natural ease of a connection built around a shared act of decency.
I don't know when we will go back to Sarzana. But we will. There is a pink house by the canal, two sisters that look exactly like each other, and a guazzetto waiting to be eaten again.
Do you have a rescue story that changed your life?