u/LakediverTx

I lost my dog a few weeks ago, and I'm really missing having a dog around. I'm thinking of fostering, because I'm not ready for permanent commitment yet. At any rate, I was wondering if any of you have experience with fostering and what shelters would you recommend? I know it's really important to foster with a shelter that actively works to get their foster animals adopted out, but I don't really know which shelters are good about doing that. I live in Katy, so a shelter near the Katy area would be ideal.

My girl passed about 3 weeks ago, at nearly 15. She was my first dog, and I'd had her since she was six months old. I've been having a really hard time since she passed.

I don't think I'm ready to get another dog yet, but I have been considering fostering to at least have a dog in my life again. Have any of you done that, and did it help? How long did you wait? Please tell me your stories about fostering, good or bad.

My girl passed about 3 weeks, at nearly 15. She was my first dog, and I'd had her since she was six months old. I've been having a really hard time since she passed. The day after, I couldn't stand to be in the house, so we went out of town for a long weekend. Came back, and so did the depression. We already had a vacation scheduled the week after that, which we had planned to take her on. So we took the trip, I was kinda okay. Then I picked up her ashes on Monday, so that was like the wound got ripped open again.

On Tuesday, I logged into work and discovered that we were back in the office 5 days a week, effective immediately. We had planned to travel full-time while working remotely after she passed ... like it was going to be the tiny silver lining in losing her. And with the RTO, that went out the window. So all week long, I've been in a depressive spiral. It just feels like my entire life went sideways when she died. I know that part of my feelings are because of the work situation ... we've been dreaming of this for awhile, and it was just starting to feel real. And then they pulled the rug out from under me. But I also know a lot of is probably grief.

I don't think I'm ready to get another dog yet, but I have been considering fostering to at least have a dog in my life again. Have any of you done that, and did it help? How long did you wait?

A little background about me. I'm 47F, and I've been a technical writer for an oil and gas company for 15 years. I make decent money, but I'm beyond burned out and need a change. There's a variety of reasons for that - my career has grown stagnant, I've seen more layoffs than I can count, the workload is constantly increasing, and I don't find the work interesting anymore. I feel like I'm just spending my life hoping I don't get laid off before I die. The thought of spending the next 15 years of my life the same way that I've spent the last 15 years honestly fills me with dread.

I've been doing a lot of reading online, and I've been strongly considering teaching English abroad. For one thing, I love to travel, so the idea of being immersed in another culture is very appealing. And it seems like teaching could potentially be more fulfilling than what I'm currently doing ... I've never done any teaching before, but I like the idea of actually making an impact in someone's life. To be clear, I do NOT think this is a gateway to party time in another country - I'm way too old for that nonsense. I'm interested in teaching as an actual career. I know it would be significant change and a big challenge, but that's part of what appeals to me. I also understand that I would be making significantly less money, but as long as I can be at least somewhat comfortable - pay the bills, afford food, put a little in savings - that's fine with me. I don't need a fancy lifestyle.

One big gap right now is that I've never done any teaching, so I don't honestly have any idea if I would like. But there's a local organization where you can volunteer to teach ESL, so I think that would be a good way to gauge whether or not I actually like teaching. If so, then I would obviously start working on a TEFL certification (I already have a bachelor's degree).

I guess I'm mainly wondering if this is a totally crazy thing to do? Has anyone done it, and what was your experience?