Skip to main content

Three years of Victory



On this day, three years ago, I wasn't expecting to adopt a beagle.

Not at all. A former neighbor of mine had a beagle and he howled constantly. As much as I loved Snoopy as a kid (and still do as an adult), I wasn't about to get a dog that always sang a B-flat.

In the month I had between housemates, life felt very empty. I had spent so many of those five previous years with a terrier named Juliet. Now the house was barely half full with my stuff, awaiting Matt's arrival on the Fourth of July. Once Matt moved in, I looked into getting another dog.

A trip to the Dallas SPCA was rather heart-breaking; not many dogs, and many with life-threatening conditions that required an expensive upkeep. But thanks to a friend of a friend, I was tipped off about the Humane Society in Fort Worth. Seeing a dog that I liked on a pet adoption website, I decided to make the trek out. The dog wasn't there, but Victory was.

The key factor for me was that she didn't bark her head off at me. Most dogs did. She just gave me googly eyes as I passed by her pen multiple times. I ended up taking her home that day.

And every day since then has been elevated because of her.

I never imagined saying that about a dog, but it's true. No matter how good or bad a day I'm having, she's always there, happy to see me and Matt. And it helps she's still strong enough for daily three-mile walks.

She turned eight a few weeks ago, and I hope many more days are filled with joy because of her.

And she's a daily reminder that putting effort into finding the right situation is absolutely worth it in the long run.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Catherine Wheel

Originally posted: Tuesday, August 29th, 2006 Despite managing to release five proper albums, Catherine Wheel was one of those bands that always seemed to slip past the mainstream rock crowd. Yes, they got some nice airplay in their day, but people seem to have forgotten about them. You may hear “Black Metallic” or “Waydown” on a “classic alternative” show on Sirius or XM or maybe even on terrestrial radio, but that’s about it. For me, they were one of most consistent rock bands of the ’90s, meandering through shoegazer, hard rock, space rock and pop rock, all while eluding mainstream pigeonholing. Led by the smooth, warm pipes of vocalist/guitarist Rob Dickinson (cousin of Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson), Catherine Wheel featured Brian Futter on lead guitar, Dave Hawes on bass and Neil Sims on drums. They weren’t a pretty-boy guitar band, but they weren’t a scuzzy bunch of ragamuffins either. Though the band hailed from England, Catherine Wheel found itself more welcome on American air

Best of 2021

  Last year, my attention span was not wide enough to listen to a lot of LPs from start to finish. Too much went on in 2020 to focus on 10-15 albums, so I went with only a couple to spotlight. Well, 2021 was a little better, as I have a list of top four records, and a lot of individual tracks.  (I made a lengthy Spotify playlist ) So, without further ado, here’s my list of favorites of the year: Albums Deafheaven, Infinite Granite (listen) Hands down, my favorite album of the year. I was not sure where Deafheaven would go after another record that brought My Bloody Valentine and death metal fans together, but they beautifully rebooted their sound on Infinite Granite. The divisive goblin vocals are vastly pared-down here, as are the blast beats. Sounding more inspired by Slowdive, the band has discovered a new sonic palette that I hope they explore more of in the future. It’s a welcome revelation. I still love their older material, but this has renewed my love of what these guys do.  J