24/12/2025
When Henry, our "Food Thief" Golden Retriever passed away in March 2024, his death left a huge hole in my heart. Because from 1984 to 2024, I had at least one Golden Retriever in my life.
It all started with my late stepfather giving me 'Sunshine', a Golden Retriever pup as a Valentine's Day present in 1984, when I was just ten years old. Sunshine was there with me from elementary school to my college years. My first dog. She left quite an impression on me and I knew I would always want a Golden Retriever in my life.
A few months later, Sunshine returned as another Golden Retriever and we named her Sunny. (That's a whole other wild story to be told at another time. ) Then a few years later, we were given Lucky. He was a Golden Retriever who was no longer wanted because of a divorce.
In 2006, Vince and I married with Sunny as our flower girl and Lucky as our ring bearer. Unfortunately, Lucky was later diagnosed with lymphoma and he passed in 2010.
During Lucky's chemotherapy treatments, Vince and I would wait around and have lunch nearby. We befriended Jason, the sushi chef and he became interested in Golden Retrievers. And much to our surprise, Jason later purchased a puppy despite his long work hours.
After Lucky passed away, Jason reached out to us and asked us to take in Henry. About a year later, Sunny passed away and that left us with just Henry.
Despite all of our dogs and other sanctuary animals....I have been secretly wanting another Golden Retriever. But everyone wants one and they're rarely ever in any shelter for very long.
Big sigh. Another Christmas without a token Golden Retriever in our lives. Or so I thought!!
So, last Wednesday morning at about 4am, as I was working in dispatch - I had the sudden urge to look for an animal. I was tired and just wanted to keep myself busy until my shift ended at 6am. I hopped on Craigslist and aimlessly searched for about 30 minutes.
It just didn't feel right and I didn't even know what I was looking for.
By 7am, I was home and exhausted. But the dogs were all excited to see me and I stayed up until almost 9a. As I put my phone on my nightstand, I saw that my father was calling me. I was too tired to take his call and did not answer.
He followed up with a text and a picture of the rear end of a Golden Retriever. My father speaks primarily Vietnamese, but also enough English for me to understand the basics.
It looked like a Golden Retriever in his text!!
From what I could understand, my father told me that he knew someone who didn't want his dog anymore. And that's it. That urge I so strongly felt just hours before... this was what I was looking for.
Then it a was a flurry of calls and texts to my mom (to help translate), Vince (to tell him I'm flying down to LA), Kara (my friend who lives in SoCal and ask her to go evaluate the dog on Thursday) and to Nanci ( to ask for a ride to the airport).
As luck would have it, my super busy friend Kara (she's helped us pick up Kovi, Eddy, Cheech and Tommy) was going to be in area of the dog because she had a dentist appointment that day. What are the chances?!!
So last Thursday, Kara dropped by and visited Mango and she tried to speak to the owner to get more information about Mango. When Kara asked if Mango was fixed - there was a language barrier - but the owner replied that Mango was "a virgin". 🤣
And with that.. I flew down to LA on Friday afternoon and picked up Mango at 6pm. All I could ascertain was that she's 4 years old and it's uncertain if she's ever been vaccinated or been seen by a veterinarian. The owner explained he didn't have time for her anymore and he wanted her to go to a good home.
Mango took one look at me, jumped in my rental car and never looked back. I made a pit stop at Porto's to grab some of their delicious pastries. I shared a few bites with Mango along the way and by 230am on Saturday.... Mango was officially a Lucky One.
And that's the story of how Mango came to us!
