Primavera and Flor pulled up to the Evanston Animal Shelter at around 9 p.m.
Vanessa was there, with all four of her sons beside her.
“I went and saw her. I just bawled,” Vanessa told NBC Chicago. “I broke down completely. She was back with me. A piece of my heart was back with me.”
Ohanian wasn’t there in person, but she saw the photos and video afterward.
“It was very, very emotional, very heartwarming,” she told the Evanston RoundTable. “The dog went right up to them. I don’t know if she 100% recognized them or Vanessa, but once the volunteer put Flor in her arms, it was the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in a long time.”
She added that moments like this matter deeply to people who work in animal welfare, because they see so much that is hard to deal with.
So where had Flor been all those years?
Nobody knows for certain. Ohanian said she doesn’t believe the little dog was living on the street for twelve years. But beyond that, the missing chapter of Flor’s life remains a mystery.
And perhaps, in the end, it doesn’t matter very much.
“Just that she’s alive, she’s healthy and she’s coming home,” Ohanian said.
Flor went home that night to a bed that was already waiting for her.
“She did have a wonderful night,” Vanessa told the RoundTable. “I had her bed ready, her pillows, everything, her blankets.”
The next morning, something lovely happened.