Wet Nose Dirty Paws

Tulip

Tulip came into my life 11 years ago and didn’t leave any part of who I was untouched. I found her as a young pup at the SPCA of Northern Nevada in Reno and, through a stroke of luck, she became mine. We were both new transplants to the area; I had been in Reno all of a week after finishing up a Master’s program in Philadelphia and she had been plucked from a high-kill shelter out in Lovelock, NV. She was shy, submissive, wary of most people and a total sweetheart. I was fresh out of school, stubbornly stumbling along my journey to becoming a veterinarian, following a vague notion of who and what I thought I wanted to be when I grew up yet having no inkling of how much that was true or how to go about figuring it out. In a desert of uncertainty, she was my anchor and the only piece of my life puzzle at the time that actually fit.

In many ways, she raised me as much as I raised her. She showed me patience, love, and loyalty. She showed me that sometimes the only way forward is by going off the beaten path. She taught me that life is made up of little steps moving forward, and just as many moving back. She taught me that I am never alone. What I think she might have wanted to teach me most though, is that I am enough as I am.

It has been 18 months since Tulip passed away. I’ve still yet to go a day without thinking about or missing her. In many ways, I feel like our journey together was cut short, that we were meant for more years of adventuring, cuddling, and exploring life together. I used to tell her that I didn’t know how to do this life without her and, while that sentiment still holds true, day by day our little pack is slowly figuring it out.

– The Dirty Paws Crew