I often wonder if I can be considered a mom, even though I made a conscious decision before I was even 12 years old to never have children. I know a lot of women frown upon this, however my life choices and career never opened the door, and I therefore chose to close it.

Moving to Fiji was a very quick decision. Want to move from the city back to living on a rock surrounded by the ocean and palm trees? Who could say no? I am now a happy expat once again and love the fact that this rock is a little more livable than my last one. After living in the Maldives for 6 years, it’s hard to explain to people that it wasn’t actually a holiday, it was 24/7 work (more about that life soon). Fiji has everything that the Maldives didn’t – our own place to call home (that isn’t located at a hotel), normal people to connect with that you don’t work with, driving, supermarkets, mountains, real grass, and the opportunity for me to become a momma! What a great feeling it was to meet our little fur baby, Juni, who was abandoned like so many others on a beach in Fiji. She was 6 weeks old and a little traumatized with a few health issues, but she is still one of the lucky ones.

A few weeks into being a fur momma, I find myself considering that fur mommas should have a place in society as much as the other moms. We, too, need play dates with other pups, and we need to meet other like-minded fur moms who have also been traumatized by a puppy that won’t stop biting their ankles or barking just to wind you up.

Like many new moms, I found myself contemplating returning Juni to her life of a street dog (I do hope I’m not the only one) after the third afternoon of being bitten to shreds by her razor sharp puppy teeth. Of course I didn’t do this though, because somewhere underneath it all she is a blessing. My step count has rarely hit the highs it does now – walking her several kilometers a day seems to take her mind off my tasty toes and fingers. My days working from home are filled with distractions which move me way before my Garmin watch step counter alert does and my neighbors have become great friends, because Juni assumes if your front door is open, it’s considered an invitation to visit.

Juni is not one for a clean house. The floor is always covered in muddy paw prints ever since she learned the trick of emptying all the water from her bowl with her paws from her mate Stevie. Torn up toilet paper gets pulled through the entire house, my shoes have unmistakable holes from puppy teeth, and anything left within arms reach on the dining table lands on the floor. This has forced us to be more mindful of what we place where, but as a fellow woman on a rock, I’m sure you understand how good husbands are at putting things away (and no, the floor is not away).

I may not be suffering from the baby blues, but for all you moms out there, spare a thought for the dog rescuers who can’t bear to see another Fijian dog on the streets and find themselves in the role of fur mom. I anticipate that I will be rescuing many a fur friend in my life on this rock.

If you are reading this planning on moving to Fiji with fur babies from your home country as we initially were, just spare a thought for the ever-expanding street dog population in Fiji which organizations such as Animals Fiji and Greater Good Foundation try to control. I encourage you to help these organizations in whichever way you can and ask you to perhaps consider bringing in another member into your fur family – one rescue at a time!

You can keep in touch with me via Instagram – I would love to meet more fur mommas to ease my mind that I’m not the crazy mom I think I am.

Island Regards from the Bula Rock!