Just Ask Beaux and Me

Being quarantined with my short-legged Jack Russell Terrier was the highlight of my 2020. No sarcasm here--we go together like red beans and Mondays, like black and gold, like the whiskey and absinthe in a Sazerac. Most people, and four other dogs with whom we share a space, will tell you that life with Beaux Salvatore and me is no weekend in Cabo. It’s so much more…like a whole week!

He accepts me for being flawed and delusional, and I accept him, well, for the exact same reasons. I even love it when he growls at me for pressing my lips really close to his sweet little face, so close that the sound is muffled when I sing “God Only Knows What I’d Be Without You” by the multi-talented, original boy band known as The Beach Boys.

So why should you listen to Beaux and me when we have just openly admitted to both being flawed and delusional? Well let’s start at the very beginning…

My kids announced that they were off to college. I panicked …threw up a lot.

Around that time, Beaux was born with a heart defect and an outrageously loud murmur. Beaux meets my sister. I meet Beaux.

We fall in love, and I adopt him. I immediately feel better about the children leaving.

We name his obnoxiously loud heart murmur his Ethel Murmur and declare ourselves to be inseparable and magical. You’ll get the magical part later.

So you see, he saved me and I saved him, typical fairytale romance, but there’s more to it than that.

God knows that my love life proves that you don’t just get to say you’re meant for one another, call yourselves magical, and dress in matching outfits. You have to prove it! You have to show that you have each other’s backs. Mean it. Take victims. Break some sh*t. That’s how you know! So, why should you listen to Beaux and me? Read on.

Three days into our magical bliss, Beaux came down with Bordetella. Although vaccinated, he still somehow got it. I knew right away what was happening and since it was midnight, we rushed to the after-hours clinic. Upon looking at Beaux, the veterinarian declared that his heart was failing and stated that we should put him down. He even took him from my arms and started to walk away with him. That’s when I proved that I had Beaux’s back. I broke my glasses and my thumb while firmly snatching Beaux from the evil clutch of the after-hours vet, making it known that no one was going to kill my dog! I had adopted this particular pup because I had faith in him, I needed him to be with me, and no veterinarian, no human, nor God for that matter, would break our bond.

Now, normally I do not challenge the Lord, but I was stressed AND had just broken my thumb, so please excuse me.

That night was awful and painful to say the least. The moment that our regular vet opened we rushed over ragged, tired and miserable. Just like when the pearly gates of the heavenly resort I love in Cabo San Lucas opens, we were warmly welcomed, properly diagnosed, and sent on our way heavily medicated and happy. Beaux fully recovered in two weeks, and it was as though he knew that I had saved him. He started coming with me to the gallery on Royal Street every day. He became the dog about town as people would take him to their shops and bring him back when it was time for his medication. He rode in horse-drawn carriages throughout the streets of the French Quarter and regularly lunched in Jackson Square with a different friend each day. The gallery staff completely fell in love with him…and so did I.

You see what I did wasn’t anything that any other dog lover wouldn’t do. But for Beaux and me it was monumental, as no one had ever had his back since the day that he was born with the Ethel Murmur. And my kids, the only ones that I thought had my back, were leaving me to start a new life with friends at college.

What I did was not merely refuse to allow an overzealous man to harm my pet, but rather an opportunity to take a stance and refuse to allow someone to change the life path that I wanted to take.

When Beaux turned one I had his cake made by an amazing baker in New Orleans. Jordan Kanousse from the Food Network’s Spring Baking Championship created the most adorable cake I had ever seen in the shape of Beaux’s face. We celebrated quietly under the oak trees in the backyard and spent the entire day relaxing.

Then COVID came around and the world fell apart. I took my little family into the house, and we stayed put. As I worked from home managing art galleries, Beaux made a home for himself in my top desk drawer. He has yet to catch on to the idea of dictation, but he naps beautifully.

So why should you listen to Beaux and me? Because we know exactly how much you love your dog and how much your dog loves you. We know that it isn’t just a look or a touch or even a bark. It’s everything--the way you snore, the way they snore, the way they bark at the Amazon guy, the way I bark at the Amazon guy. It’s also the way he looks at me like nothing else in the world matters. I love that I can feel that in my heart and think to myself, “You are right Beaux Salvatore. Nothing else in the world does matter.” Take it from us…It rarely does!