Right now, there is a story unfolding about your life and the events that will connect you to it — and you become aware of it sometime in the future.
Back in the fall of 2013, a family I didn’t know took a trip to Georgia and stopped at an apple orchard. They noticed that alongside that orchard, there was an old woman selling small animals for pets – mostly cats, though she did have one lone dog she couldn’t unload on someone else.
The family had two daughters, and one, let’s call her Oldest Daughter A (ODA), to protect her identity, came upon the lone dog the old woman was selling and was immediately smitten. Her parents weren’t as confident that buying the dog no one wanted was a good idea, so ODA and the parents agreed to sleep on it.
Nothing would change ODA’s strong desire to go back the next day to the old woman and her makeshift pet stand next to the orchard to purchase the black chow-rottweiler-lab mix. And so she did. The daughter got her dog, and the lone dog got his forever home.
The daughter, of course, was Anonymous, and the dog would be known as Blue, named after the mountain range the family visited those many years ago.
I don’t know what I was doing in the fall of 2013, probably nothing great, but I was doing enough of the right things to be on the path where four years later, Blue and I would meet.
And today, May 11, we celebrate Blue’s 13th birthday.
Dogs are the greatest thing God has given us, and it’s fair to say that everyone who has a dog thinks their dog is the greatest. It’s a nice sentiment, but completely outside of reality, because Blue is, for all intents and purposes, the best dog ever.
For this week’s Maundy Monday Newsletter, we will take a walk down memory lane and highlight three important milestones that Blue and I have shared over the past nine years.
1. The First Meeting – May 2017. There is a strict protocol when meeting Blue for the first time. Number 1: You are not to look him in the eyes, lest he take that as a challenge to his manhood, and come at you with the fury of an army battalion. Number 2: You must ignore Blue; let him sniff you out to see if you are connected to another dog he may know and most likely doesn’t like. The process of not looking him in the eye, as if Blue were a character in a random Stephen King novel, may take days, weeks, or even years, depending on how often they encounter each other. For me, the first meeting went smoothly because I followed Anonymous’s directive (as the rest of my life would play out), and Blue deemed me a reasonable guest. However, he still interrupted any affection I tried to bestow on the woman I was wooing. It would take him years to move past this.
2. The Choosing – Spring 2018. Anonymous and I had been dating for at least a year, and Blue and I had a gentleman’s agreement – he would let me walk him and pet him. We were allowed to have our eyes connect, but we had not yet leaped into “Forever Friends.” It wouldn’t be until Anonymous caught a nasty flu that forced Blue to spend a few nights at my place, where the connecting got more connecting. Then, a few weeks later, when Anonymous went to Germany to give a speech on how to spy effectively, Blue came over for an extended stay. It was then that the bond was sealed, and Blue and I felt like true bros. I basically married Blue before I married Anonymous.
3. Together Forever – Spring 2020. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Anonymous and I were three years into our relationship and still living about a mile apart. I’m not exactly sure how it happened, but one day, weeks into the new world order, Anonymous came over and then never left. That meant Blue came along as well. My small one-bedroom apartment was now a family home for three. It was during this time that I became Blue’s primary caretaker, taking him on walks and feeding him. When we moved into our current house later in 2020, Blue established himself in the neighborhood as well, ensuring that anyone who comes near our manor who he doesn’t know or like finds our family abode well protected.
Blue has one distinctive trait that I love; he has a very specific opinion about people and animals. Back in 2018, Anonymous and I drove for what felt like hours into no-man’s-land to meet with a dog trainer we hoped would help us train Blue. When we arrived and got out of the car, we encountered a large donkey.
Now I’m pretty confident Blue had never seen a donkey before. So he did what any dog with Blue’s nervousness and anxiety would do, especially after being in the car for hours – an activity he greatly despises – he barked at the donkey. When the donkey didn’t respond and continued to live his best donkey life, Blue then retreated to shake behind us. The donkey looked Blue in the eyes and won the day.
It was after this encounter that the dog trainer emerged, interacted with us for about 30 minutes, and determined there was nothing he could do to help us with Blue – we had spoiled him too much for any reasonable amount of training to undo any bad habits Blue may have developed.
But it doesn’t matter in the end because Blue always chooses you. He’s the best dog; he’s loyal, loving, and sweet. He does have anxiety, and the minute he walks outside, he thinks the world is against him, but inside the house – nothing but love.
He hates it when you are upset, and defensive when you get mad at him. His food motivation is off the charts. His vet says that, despite being 13, he has the bloodwork of a 2-year-old. He’s an old man who looks years younger.
He’s the sweetest and bluest of the bears. Anonymous and I love him very much. Happy Birthday! We get to see him soon as we return from our trip to Nashville over the weekend. He was sick for most of last week, but hopefully he is feeling better. Either way, he will take his trip to the local pet store to grab a new toy and get a treat. Not all bad habits are really bad. Who knows what the future will hold for us, but I’m grateful to have Blue here with me as we journey into it.
Okay! Happy Mother’s Day to all of the mothers! As I mentioned, we were in Nashville over the weekend with Anonymous’s parents to see the Eagles in concert. They are a great show to take in. I’m glad this upcoming weekend will be one where I stay home.
I hope you have a great week. Thanks for your support of Okay History!
Great story, sweet dog.