I was lucky: I grew up with dogs. I guess that's why today, two of my best friends are canines.
But before we became family, Jack and Sadie were strays. I found each of them desperate, living or stranded in the woods beside a dirt road.
Sadie was just a big pup and in pretty good shape. Jack was about a year old, feral, loaded with ticks and quite sick.
Both were smelly, inconvenient messes with a lot of issues when they came into my life. Yet now, I don't even want to imagine living without them.
I am so lucky and blessed to have them with me!
To pay for all the dog food and biscuits (and our various adventures) I work as a features writer at my hometown newspaper, the Tallahassee Democrat. I also volunteer as an editor at a small literary magazine, the Apalachee Review.
Although most of the time you can find me in the sandy pine woods of rural North Florida, part of my heart has remained at Best Friends since I visited there in 2003.
It's such an amazing place. But then, if you've been there, you already knew that. :)