It’s taken a year to write this embarrassing tail (yes, pun intended). At first, my husband Mitch and I didn’t want to tell anyone for fear we were losing our minds. “You forgot what?” 

Mitch and I were in Great Valley, a town near Ellicottville, NY. Our plan was to meet our son Alex and DIL Joyce with grandson Griff at a dog meet-up party. This wasn’t an ordinary party; it was very exclusive.

All Welcome, As Long as You are a Vizsla Dog

As parents of Jess, we always strive for inclusive activities. Everybody Welcome! Regardless of race, gender, disability, political view, and the list goes on….

However, when it comes to Gus and our meet-ups, there is a specific criterion for joining our group. The dog must be a Hungarian Vizsla. Most people do not know this breed until I say, “Have you heard of the Weimaraner?” A far more complicated word, but the reply is usually, “Yes!” I explain that the Vizsla is the red cousin of the Weimaraner.

Gus, the dog is hard to miss, hard to overlook 

So back to my story before I forget….

Mitch and I were heading to the Vizsla Meet-Up Group. We were running late, and it was a 1-hour drive to the location.

I was in the car tapping my toes and thinking, where is Mitch? We are going to be late? GRRRR!

Driving to Vizsla Group

Yes, we were bickering; at this point, I have no idea what about – you know, 42 years of marriage, and there are occasional (maybe more than occasional) disagreements. I remember that Mitch and I were both frustrated and running late.

Mitch finally gets in the car, and we drive off to meet our Vizsla group and family.

The radio was on, and Mitch and I were not talking as the time kept ticking to get the group on time.

You Forgot What?

Thirty minutes into this adventure, I turn to Mitch and say, “You brought Gus, right?” We both stare for a moment as I hesitantly look to the back of Mitch’s truck. It hit us at the same time, WE FORGOT THE DOG!

How do you go to a dog meet-up without your Dog? 

Who forgets the !@#$ Dog?

The Dilemma and there were many. Do we go back home and get Gus? We would be too late for the gathering; we were already 30 minutes into the ride. Do we turn around and skip the whole event? No, our kids were meeting us there. We had to continue the journey of shame.

We decided to say that Gus had stomach issues and couldn’t attend, but we showed up to see everyone, including our family. 

Where’s Waldo?

When you attend a Hungarian Vizsla get-together, the first thing you may think is, “Where’s Waldo?” Every dog is identical. The color of the Vizsla coat is solid golden rust (also called russet), with no markings. It’s like going to a party of 30 identical twins! Gus wears an orange collar to quickly identify him. Unfortunately, we are not the only members who thought of that.

As soon as we walked into the dog arena, people asked, “Where’s Gus?” 

Um, Ugh– he’s sick…? We didn’t tell anybody about our faux pas (or, as Gus would say, “Faux Paw”)

Epilogue

Epilogue: Mitch and I laughed endlessly in the car that day at the absurdity of forgetting our dog for the dog party. We were now on the same page and quickly forgot what we were arguing about before our blunder. We also questioned our memory and made up many reasons why this could happen to anybody. Such as we were bickering, we were stressed for time, and the old but true, it was your fault.

Mitch thought I had Gus in the car while he was closing up the house, and I thought Mitch was bringing Gus in the car with him. My head was probably in my phone, and because I was “pissed off” at Mitch, I didn’t register that he jumped in the car without our furry son.

It’s taken a year to write this because I wanted to make sure that it wasn’t a memory thing, and since we have not forgotten either of our dogs or grandchildren lately, all seems to be good. (Especially since our small dog Daniel travels with us, and that would be bad if we left him somewhere in Texas!)

So that is Gus’s Tail and our Tale. And now the Vizsla group knows the truth – Sigh…

Have you read Raising Jess A Story of Hope? If yes, THANK YOU! and please consider leaving a review on Amazon (it’s ok if you didn’t purchase through Amazon)

The Importance of Siblings

I wrote a blog about the sibling exit interview, which highlights THE IMPORTANCE OF SIBLINGS :

National Siblings Day Event

April 10th is National Siblings Day and California Sibs (a community for adult siblings of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in California) will gather online to share their personal experiences with their siblings, how their siblings have contributed to their lives, and how they use media to highlight their unique sibling relationships in films, on stage, podcasts, social media, television, and news. The event’s keynote is Michael Kutcher, a disability and organ transplant advocate who will talk about how his sibling relationships supported him in overcoming barriers and living with hope and appreciation. Guests Brian Donovan, Diana Pastora Carson, Sheena Brevig, Ann Talman, and Elizabeth Espinosa will talk about their experiences as filmmakers, actors, podcasters, journalists, and advocates, and personally about their lives as siblings of people with disabilities. 

CLICK For the WHY-WHEN-WHERE-WHO and MORE –

For more information visit CaliforniaSibs National Sibling Day “Sibs in Media” event page.