“THERE’S ANOTHER DOG!”

Despite the fact that I have an entire page in my Britney Spears notebook full of potential future blog posts, I found myself suffering with a case of writer’s block at the tailend of last year. It might seem odd and baffling to you that I didn’t just pull from my notated ideas and write up one of those, but 2020 had already been a record-breaking year for verybeneficial.net and I need to ensure that I’m able to continue that success into the beyond. So, for some encouragement, I sent out a snapchat to all my streaks (people I’ve snapped with for multiple days in a row) professing my stagnation and received a handful of wonderful ideas! One of which you’ll be reading here and the others joined that fantastical list inside my beloved Britney Spears notebook.

Back in my final week with The Men’s Wearhouse, I was discussing my This One Goes Out To The Ones I Love… post with my former boss and good friend, Lydia, and as she expressed a great deal of gratitude for the words I wrote about her in that blog, she said something that greatly resonated with me and I’ll now never forget. She said that in her family they have a saying, “give me my flowers while I can smell them.” Which simply means to take the time to thank and appreciate those around us while we still have them to thank and appreciate. I found this idea to be so simple, yet so profound. Needless to say, I absolutely loved this and when I was reading my friend’s snapchat suggestions, this beautiful saying sprang to mind.

On December 16, Melissa and I went and saw the Wild Lights at the Saint Louis Zoo with our dear friends, Jody, Alex, and Abbey. A tradition that we’ve maintained since the 2017 holiday season (the year I moved back from California). Despite having to wear a mask and everything else that slightly altered our experience, we still had every bit as of an amazing time as we had any single year prior. The lights were actually even better and more expansive this time around, covering parts of the zoo that had never been lit. The hot cocoa was delicious like always and brought some much needed warmth to our bodies on that wintery evening. Like I said, we had a phenomenal time, but that’s just the thing though with this bunch, it’s honestly impossible for us to not have an incredible time when we’re together because they’re truly simply the best!

Let’s go back now to 2004, that’s when Jody and I started working together at Target (Melissa would join us one year later). For me and Melissa, Target birthed some of our absolute best friendships: Nancy, Katie and Jon, Kamber, Nicole, Kristen, Amy, and of course, Jody. Like Rihanna, we all managed to find love in a hopeless place. Given that Alex is now 14 and Abbey 13, Melissa and I have known the two of them since they were born! We can even remember when Jody was pregnant with each of them! This is just so crazy to me! I’m not even that old, so how is this even possible!?! Anyway… Jody, Alex, and Abbey, and Jody’s other two children, Tyler (20), and if I played favorites – which I most certainly do not – but if I did it would undoubtedly be Sweet Cody (18), are some of our oldest friends!

Quick lil’ side note here: for a comprehensive understanding of just how perfect and wonderful Sweet Cody is, please see my The Original Sweet post. It will showcase everything you need to know about how spectacular this young man is. I swear to you, he’s the best!

Obviously every friendship has that moment when it truly began and ours with Jody and her family actually originated quite bleakly. It was Black Friday 2008 and Jody had to leave work in an emergency to take young Alex to the hospital. We later learned that that poor little boy, who was just two and a half years old at the time, had been diagnosed with Leukemia.

For months Jody basically lived at the children’s hospital in Saint Louis with Alex as he underwent treatments and throughout that time, Melissa and I would go and visit the two of them. I remember the store really came together and would almost always give us care packages to take for Jody and Alex there in the hospital. These memories seem like ages ago given how much older and healthier Alex is now, but I’ll never forget them for as long as I live. It’s never a good thing when one had to endure what Alex did, but it’s especially horrible when a child has to go through all of that.

In the years following Alex’s release from the hospital and eventual conquering of his Leukemia, Melissa and I, along with a handful of our fellow Target coworker’s, would participate in several cancer benefit walks alongside Jody and her family. It really was from the onset of this period of great darkness that we all entered a lifelong one of nothing but bright beaming light.

Now a great many people have been known to make fun of me and Melissa for what they perceive to be our often expected and excessive crying during movies, but the Howard children were definitely the first and remain BY FAR the most savage.

Ten years ago now we all went and saw the film, Dolphin Tale. Well, if you’ve seen it, you know it’s a pretty emotional movie. Needless to say, Melissa and I were about to start crying, but even before we did, all four of those little heads were turned in our direction, anticipating what they knew was to come. Tyler, Cody, Alex, and Abbey were much too distracted by what they clearly felt was the second show being put on display in the auditorium that day: me and Melissa just being ourselves! We can’t help that we’re in touch with our emotions, but I’m glad that is brings such mystified entertainment to the masses!

On one of my trips back to Saint Louis from the time I was living in California, Melissa and I went to Six Flags Saint Louis with Jody and the kids. Well, let me tell you all what, Melissa HATES Six Flags! She doesn’t even call it by name, instead she solely refers to it as the “Death House.” We’ve been together three separate times and each one has resulted in its own uniquely terrible memory for her. Fortunately for her though, this is the lesser of the “three evils”.

Melissa’s misfortune that day came in her choice of fashion – or perhaps lack thereof. She wore a pair of jean shorts, or “jorts” as everyone began affectionately calling them once a certain photo surfaced. We all rode the log flume that day and while we split ourselves into three separate logs and purchased each one of the photos, the only one any of us truly remembers is the picture of Melissa and Tyler going down the flume.

Abbey was especially so mesmerized by Melissa’s photo that as soon as we had the three souvenir pictures in hand Abbey turned to all of us and demanded, “I want my picture with your picture.” So, that’s exactly what we did. We took a picture of Abbey holding Melissa’s picture and the rest is now history. What initially seemed like such an odd request has resulted in a lifetime of laughs. I cannot even tell you how many times Melissa and I have referenced and laughed about that picture of Abbey holding Melissa’s photo. It’s literally the best and forever one of our favorites!

By this point you’re probably wondering why in the name of clickbait was this post titled, “THERE’S ANOTHER DOG!?!” Well, sadly ironic, this blog was intended to have been shared on December 30, but with Céline’s passing that morning, I quickly drafted up The Last Song as an ode to our beloved late furbaby. Given that this was the title for this post all along, I knew there was no way I could change it now.

Back in 2013 I took the kids to go see that Ryan Reynolds helmed movie, Turbo, where he voices a snail that yearns to be a racer. Well, before the movie, me and the four of them stopped by my house. At the time my parents had two dogs, an English Mastiff named Malachi and an English Bulldog named Winston. Well, a then little six year old Abbey was absolutely terrified and I do mean TERRIFIED of dogs. It was very begrudgingly that she even entered my home knowing there were in fact two dogs inside.

Although both Winston and Malachi were very sweet and loving, they were also very large and to a six year old little girl they were HUGE! Winston was also a big jumper and he easily weighed more than Abbey or hell! Probably even Alex and Cody for that matter. Winston was thick! Well, Abbey was starting to get panicky by Winston’s squirreliness and although he just wanted to give her kisses and lovin’ she wasn’t having any part of that. She instantly ran straight back out the front door of my parents in route back to my car in the driveway on the side of the house.

As the boys and I stood there petting my dogs, we watched as Abbey completely disappeared from view. No sooner though had she left our sight was she back in it again. She was rounding the corner of my parents house in such a panicked frenzy. Her little arms were stretched out in front of her and she was screaming at the top of her lungs. I rushed out the door to meet her to see what in the world the crisis was. When she saw me her scream evolved from just a yell into an actual set of words. “THERE’S ANOTHER DOG! THERE’S ANOTHER DOG! THERE’S ANOTHER DDDOOOOOOOOOGGGGGG!” She ran up those porch steps and planted herself in one of the chairs away from the door. By this point the boys had all joined us outside on the porch and my two dogs remained inside the house with their wet noses pressed hard up against the glass of the door wondering what all the commotion was about.

As Abbey squirmed in her seat she kept screaming, “THERE’S ANOTHER DOG!” over and over as she pointed in the direction of the driveway. I watch this poor little girl in absolute peak fear and fright and did what anyone else would have done in my situation: I laughed my head off. My laughter set off a chain reaction and all her brothers started laughing too. Abbey, being six, started crying, so I went in to give her a hug, but I couldn’t stop laughing all the while. She was straight up pissed that we were all laughing at her expense, but there was no other way to look at it other than comically.

The other dog was the neighbor’s dog, Lucky. Rumored to have been named after Britney Spears smash hit song, Lucky was every bit as sweet as that frothy melody from Britney’s jam. She was a bit of a barker, but her bark was infinitely worse than her bite. She was probably just startled by little Abbey making such a ruckus as she ran back to the car. Lucky had an invisible fence around her yard, so she certainly wasn’t going anywhere, but Abbey didn’t know that. All she knew was she was sandwiched between two sets of dogs and that was no place she wanted to be. This moment was hilarious then and remains hilarious to us all now – even Abbey – who has long since outgrown her canine trauma. In fact, she loves dogs, especially their own, Harley, who just like Winston is a jumper and a kisser.

So, from dinners at Alfonzo’s Pizzeria, to sporadic trips to Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana, to summertime pool fun at the Howard house, our lives together are running deep into our second decade of friendship. Each one of Jody (and Bob’s) kids is growing into a phenomenal individual with their own uniquely strong personality and Jody has remained nothing but consistently unique and strong throughout. I cannot wait to create even more amazing memories with them all in the future of our friendship!

I owe Abbey a HUGE THANK YOU for inspiring this post! She snapped me suggesting I write about how much the Howard’s have impacted my life and to share some fun memories. I’m so grateful to her for this. Even at thirteen she manages to straddle the line between modesty and confidence so well that she makes it look like a true balancing act. I love it. So Abbey, thank you for letting me give you your flowers while you can smell them!

This was a wonderful trip down memory lane for me and I hope you all enjoyed it too! As always, THANK YOU for reading! PLEASE feel free to leave a comment below! You all already know how much I LOVE reading and responding to them! I’ll return soon with another all new post, so until then, live THE BEST life ever!