"Red" Christmas

Have you ever watched those alcohol commercials where they show all of these young, hip, fabulous people partying in the most luxurious hot spots and drinking apparently “responsibly” because they certainly aren’t sweating their makeup off, falling on the floor, making asses of themselves, and eventually waking up in unknown apartments with the room spinning and dried puke in their hair? There are also the all inclusive beach resort commercials where everything is picture-perfect, adventurous and romantic, but the reality is that you are never going to find an empty cabana because they are full of families with 8 kids, the jet skis are unavailable, and you’ll probably be in your room with diarrhea from all of the overly rich food and sugary beverages.

For our 5th wedding anniversary, I planned the ultimate “commercial” anniversary weekend. I reserved a suite at the Archer Hotel for the weekend, made reservations for massages at Viva and dinner at Paul Martin’s, bought the perfect LBD (little black dress), and stocked the room with our favorite snacks and Diet Coke. It was going to be the most romantic weekend ever. Now don’t get me wrong, the hotel was perfectly wonderful and they brought us a special anniversary dessert. The massages were relaxing. The dress was indeed perfect and the dinner quite delicious. The hotel balcony had a fireplace and the room was stunning. Friday night was romantic and when we woke up Saturday, we went to the gym and had a delightful brunch at Toulouse. If someone were filming or taking photos, people would have thought we were in a commercial for fabulousness. We spent the afternoon shopping at the Domain and then went back to the hotel for a nap. And that’s when it hit me. This was not our dream anniversary weekend. We were at a mall for goodness sakes. We both felt a little bored and overindulged. It was just too much and it felt almost vapid. We were both in a foul mood Saturday night and were happy to leave early Sunday morning.

So this year, for our 7th wedding anniversary, I started looking at hotels downtown since obviously, I just chose the wrong location. If we stayed downtown, we would definitely have a much better time. I mean look at the ads for the Fairmont. Those people are having an amazing time! For some reason though, I just couldn’t get excited about it. I remembered the let down from our 5th and it just felt wrong to try it again. And that’s when I saw it! A commercial for Subaru. I only saw it the one time and I have not seen it again. A couple goes to an animal shelter and brings all of the animals toys and they hang up lights and it’s all so festive and of course I cried happy tears. That was what we would do for our anniversary and for Christmas. I talked to Bill and he was all in.

I called the Humane Society of Austin (aka SPCA) and left them a message. The following Tuesday, a very kind young woman, Jessica, called me back and I told her about the Subaru commercial and I explained what we wanted to do and that it wasn’t necessary that we take selfies or play with every dog and cat, but we really wanted to do more than just send a check or drop things off in a bin. She may have thought I was nuts, but she was incredibly understanding and said she would be happy to arrange a time when we could come up and see all of the animals, bring them necessities, and feel like we were making a difference. She explained that they had a wishlist on their website that might help guide us and she gave me her email address so we could arrange a good day and time.

I was thrilled and started shopping immediately. Amazon delivered five boxes the day after Thanksgiving. Towels, cat beds, cuddly fleece blankets, Kongs, kitten food, and pill pockets. I found the 16 storage containers they wanted at the Container Store. HEB donates their Heritage Ranch brand of dog food to the SPCA, as well as a percentage of its sales, so we got some of their canned dog food and boxes of dog treats. We also got some canned cat food, peanut butter for the Kongs, Nylabone toys, puppy pads, rawhide chips, and cat toys. We had enough gifts under the tree that we might have been able to open our own pet store.

We set up an appointment time with Jessica on Wednesday, 12/18. We were both really excited. Bill had not been to the Humane Society and I had not been in years. We met Jessica and she helped us bring everything into the administrative offices. Then she had us bring some of the toys into the adoption center so we could give them to the cats and dogs.

The front part of the center was the cat area. It was just after lunch and appeared to be naptime as most of the cats were lounging in their beds or in these great little kitty hammocks. I loved that they had a litter named Latkes, Menorah, Challah, and Dreidel. The cages were very homey and each cat had a lot of room, a great bed, a litter box, food, water, and toys. A couple of the cats had recently had surgery and were resting comfortably. We went in the community room, which was filled with all sorts of toys and cat towers so a few cats at a time could play and get some exercise. There was a kitten and two cats in there and we gave them toys. The kitten was interested in playing, but every time he got too close to one of the cats, he got swatted. He didn’t seem to mind though. Jessica explained they usually got litters of stray kittens during the summer, but this had been a long season. They could adopt out the kittens, but usually had to spay and release the mothers, as they were too feral to socialize. They have a huge neuter/spay and release program, but we couldn’t remember the exact number she mentioned that they have every year.

We walked past a couple of meet and greet rooms where potential adopters could visit with potential adoptees. They were very cheery. Then we walked through a door to the dog area. It was quite a bit louder than the cat area. I guess it could have looked a bit sterile, but it was very clean and each good-sized cage had a bed, a blanket, food, water, and a ton of toys. The larger dogs had substantially bigger cages so they had plenty of room. We gave a Nylabone to an adorable pit bull named Delila. She was a new mommy and had recently weaned her litter. She took the toy to her bed and then came back to check us out. She had the sweetest eyes that just screamed love. Several people were visiting and looking for their doggy soulmates. I saw one dog, Darla, staring lovingly in this woman’s eyes. I knew she had found a home. I was touched by six dogs who had recently been put up for adoption. They had been taken from a home where the owner had died and they all had terrible mange. They were being treated, but had lost all of their fur. It would grow back and they will make marvelous pets, but it was heartbreaking. Bill was completely smitten by a hound dog named Red. He was two years old and a very handsome and sweet little man. We took a photo and sent it to my brother to try and persuade him to adopt. He was a great dog. We visited with a few of the other dogs and saw volunteers coming and going, taking each dog out for a walk. Jessica said each dog is walked four times a day and that they depended completely on volunteers for that. Some of the volunteers had been with them for 20 years.

We went through a door in the back and entered a hallway that ran along the in house veterinary clinic. It was enormous. They have two veterinarians on staff and the COO is also a vet. They perform all of the spaying and neutering there, as well as various additional medical procedures. We were amazed at all of the compassion shown to all of these animals. Jessica said they work with shelters all over the state and if a pet is going to be euthanized because of medical issues, they bring them to Austin for treatment. We asked how they get all of their animals and she said that they generally don’t accept owner surrenders or strays. Usually, those go to the Austin Animal Center that is the no-kill shelter run by the City of Austin. Then there is a network of rescue groups, including the SPCA, that help out when the city shelter is at capacity. Jessica said the average length of stay for a dog is eight days. Eight days! I had thought for sure that these poor babies stayed for months. She said that if a dog is stressed out or staying a bit too long, they try to get a foster parent to take them home. That is also helpful because it gives them more information about the needs of the animal. One of the most wonderful things she told us was that they ask adoptive parents to please bring back their pets if they are unable to keep them. Of course things happen and people don’t always do that so they microchip every pet and if they get a call that a pet has been found somewhere, they take the pet back. Part of their mission is that they make a lifetime commitment to each and every pet to find them a forever home. Now if you think that didn’t make me cry, you are crazy.

Our last stop was the wall of success stories. Pictures and letters from happy parents that want to express their gratitude to the SPCA for bringing such joy into their lives. Happy cat and dog faces everywhere. It was beautiful.

I had a lump in my throat the whole time we were there, but not for the reasons I would have thought. I really thought the visit would be sad and that the animals would all be begging to go home with us. Instead we were so overwhelmed by all of the love shown to each and every animal by the staff and volunteers. In the dog section, every tail was wagging. Those dogs were happy. The whole place was full of joy and hope. It was incredibly moving and so life and people affirming. We decided at that moment to do this ever year and to sign up to be volunteers.

We thanked Jessica and she wished us a happy anniversary. We left inspired by all of the SPCA’s great work. Later that evening, Bill was still thinking about Red and asked if three dogs was too much. He just couldn’t get over the look in his eyes. I promised we would talk to my brother again about looking into adopting him.

Now maybe there are people that don’t look to commercials for examples of how to live a meaningful life. I’m thrilled for those people, believe me. I’m just still working on who I am and what I like and I’ll take any ideas I can get. If I were a more perfect person, I’d probably read some Dalai Lama and the Bible and have all of this life stuff figured out, but I’m not always a big reader (did I mention I have a BA in English? Not sure how that happened…). Anyway, I’m so grateful we were inspired by a commercial to reach out to the Humane Society and spend our holiday and anniversary this way. It was truly special and we learned so much about the goodness of humankind.