Life Before Alfred

Life before Alfred was exactly what I thought I'd always wanted.  I was actively involved in the Chicago arts community,  living with a wonderful man, with whom I'd adopted an adorable puppy, and working on a flexible schedule leaving plenty of time for exploring the city and spending lots time with the love of my life:

My soul mate.

Yep, that's the one.  I knew it the moment he heaved his goofy, big-eared, cone head onto my chest and looked into my eyes with a satisfied sigh. Officially introducing my best friend and soul mate: Bruce Wayne.  (love you too, M!)

M and I both grew up with dogs at home and to say we "like" dogs would be a gross understatement (especially for me).  At age 14 I began my first job working weekends at a local veterinary clinic and continued to work there as much as possible over the next 8 years.  After graduating and moving to the city I couldn't afford to take care of a dog of my own, so I worked at a doggie daycare and as a dog walker to get my fix.  I would jog down to the dog beach and just sit and smile as dogs of all shapes and sizes blissfully splashed in the water and rolled around in the sand.  People on the street would be lucky to make it past me without at least a 5 minute detour of OMG, what a cuuuuuuuuute dog-type behavior, and I am not ashamed.  Not even a little.

Lucky for me, when M and I moved in together in the summer of 2009 I had LOTS of free time on my hands AND a dog-friendly lease (yippee!). We lasted approximately 1 month in the new place before heading to PAWS Chicago and bringing home a dog to call our very own.  He was everything I had ever dreamed of.  Adorable, cuddly, and super smart: he graduated top of his puppy class and went everywhere with me that he possibly could. We were one,  happy, picture-perfect family.

valedictorian

We'd talked about getting another dog someday, but were in no rush.  As far as M and I were concerned, we had everything we ever thought we wanted in life; we were on Cloud 9 and nothing could bring us down.  Then Alfred showed up.  The world works in mysterious ways...