Living Proof

Even to till day, I'm still not used to it. I have no "alone" time when I'm home, if you're not counting humans that is. I'm stared at, jumped on and when I lay down to watch TV, I have a chihuahua sitting on top of me trying to snuggle. She's almost become more of an appendage. At night before I sleep, there's no such thing as settling in without my dog curling up either between my legs or on my chest and even under my arm. I'm a bit flip-floppy in bed cause I have insomnia issues, so Madelene usually slides her over to her side. Lola and I have a routine together. After breakfast, I have to sit outside on the deck with her to finish my coffee as she plays with her toys happily. If I go inside, she comes back in to get me. We are hardly ever without each other, unless I have to leave the house. She knows what I'm saying too. I never thought dogs were "intelligent" or even had an ounce of understanding other than "commands...

These are Lola's cousins. It's so true when people say, "If they don't have kids, they just don't understand." And while that may be somewhat true, the person may have an idea of how they'd go about taking care of a child, but not really understanding what it's like - the experience itself - to be in the parent's shoes. But this isn't about kids. It's about dogs - animals in general. I haven't had a dog since I was a kid and basically went through life in my adulthood without pets. I even developed allergies for cats and dogs since I haven't been exposed to them much. Between my OCD manias and allergies --- dogs were not going to be a part of my world. I'd hear people call their dogs "my babies" and other 'mommy-wannabe' types of sayings. I'd cringe. It's a goddamn dog. It's a pet. Come on. I never understood why some people would have a hard time putting their pets in a kennel if they had to ...

This is my story... I didn't know what to expect. I was abandoned by my parents in a huge field in the backyard of someone's house in Puerto Rico and then taken away by a couple of nice strangers in a huge van. My parents had stopped feeding me and just left me there for dead. We boarded a plane that took us over to New York. Once we got there, they placed me in a holding cell. Did I do something wrong? Why was I in jail? I wasn't the only ones in this cell. A few more were in there just like me - confused and wondering where and when our next trip would be. Would we be in here forever? Sometimes, we'd see people walking into the prison, taking out a prisoner or two. One of our very own cellmates got taken away by the head of the prison. We never saw him again. Feeding time was always rough for me. I had to always fight for my food. Others would grab the food right off of my plate. I had to hide while eating or I would starve to death. Where are my parents? ...I wis...

Say hello to Lola Felicidad Pasquella, an 8 week old Chihuahua mix from Puerto Rico. She was found in a field abandoned with her brother who was also adopted. I picked her up at a nearby rescue shelter and right away, I knew she was the perfect little addition to our family. I'm welcoming her on my blog because you'll see a lot of her in my posts since she has brought so much happiness to not only my wife and I, but to my entire family who she loves so much. She's great with my sisters' kids and all she wants is to be near you, even if she's leaning up against you chewing on her rawhide drooling all over the place. Most of you know how OCD I am about 'cleanliness' and 'germs'...  Since she's been here - not. one. concern. And the thing that baffles me is, my allergist told me I was highly allergic to dogs. After a few days of sniffling and itchy skin - all my allergy problems have disappeared - in fact - I don't have wheezing or inner ear p...

Since I’ve moved into this busy condo complex, it’s much different than living on top of a hill a mile up with practically no neighbors. Usually, on a Saturday morning, the only thing I hear are birds chirping away, squirrels collecting nuts and running onto my deck to store them in the rafters of my house and the sounds of crows telling me it’s going to rain soon. My friend used to tell me that I lived in a nature reserve. She’s never seen anything like it. She was a “city girl”… Now, so am I. Instead of hearing all of these beautiful birds and wild animals trek through my yard and seeing 10 or more deer parked on my lawn grazing for an hour or two, I hear the sounds of people. Picture it – there are valleys filled with condos on top of condos on top of other condos. There has to be close to 10,000 people here! (I’m not sure of that estimate, but there are mass crowds of various types of families, newlyweds, single parents and the elderly.) Now on a Saturday morning, I hear children ...