Disney? Oh..that's a cute name..

Of all the things and people in the world that I could say I am thankful for, my dog Disney comes to mind. Yes, that's his name. After my childhood dog died a year and a half ago, my house was filled with an unbearing silence that no person could fill, no matter how hard we tried. People don't come running to the door when you come home, wagging their tail. So after a few months, my mother and I decided to start looking for a new dog. This time we decided to get a rescue; a dog that needed a second chance just as badly as we did. After looking around, we realized that not too many small dogs were in animal shelters, and our house and backyard simply wasn't big enough for a larger dog to live comfortably. We were beginning to lose hope. An animal shelter provided us with a list of other nearby shelters that we could visit, and we randomly picked one off the list. They said that they had two small dogs available, and as much as we wanted to be hopeful, we didn't want to get too excited. 

They brought us into a room filled with cats, which was quite puzzling at first. But then I saw him. Disney (who the shelter had originally named Webster) was sitting in a bottom cage, curled up on a dirty doggie bed. Being puzzled by his appearance, I asked in amazement, "What is he?" The volunteer worker explained that he was a Pitbull Daschund mix. He had an overbite on one side of his mouth. His body was too long for him to sit on his butt correctly. And his tail stuck straight up. Of course, I was in love. Right then we knew, we had to have him.

We found out some of his history. The animal shelter said that he had been abused, and to this day Disney still has an issue with men (we assume it was because a man abused him) but he is improving everyday. He was found on the street, and was still a little thin. When we brought him home, he didn't even know to eat the dog food we put in front of him; instead, he would go outside and eat sticks and leaves. But eventually, he realized he could trust us and now he is very healthy. 

We've had Disney for a little over a year now, and he has been the best thing ever for my family. I know some of you are probably wondering how a little shelter dog could change someone's life so much, but he really did. 

I really am thankful to be lucky enough to find a dog like him and give him a good home, because my life would not be the same without him.  

Practice What we Preach: a response to Danielle's blog

This is a response to Danielle's blog from 11/15/2011
http://1miletoheaven.blogspot.com/2011/11/if-you-see-something-say-something-and.html

I am honestly disgusted with the amount of students and people in general that are standing up for Joe Paterno. People are so concerned with the Penn State football image that they are willing to silence the voices of the young men that were being harmed. How are we advancing in so many other aspects of humanity, but when it comes to empathy we seem to be moving backward, not forward? I agree with Danielle that teaching young people to step in when they see injustice is extremely important. As an authority figure at a prestigious college, you would think Paterno would share the same views. It saddens me to see a grown man who has such a good reputation otherwise give a half assed attempt to say something about what he saw happen to those boys. What message are we sending to future generations? “Hey, bad stuff happens, and it’s okay to speak up… unless it’s your friend or colleague that’s doing something wrong. Then that’s bad… very, very bad. Look the other way kids; you’ll be better off that way.”

As future educators, we must practice what we preach.

First Thanksgiving, now Halloween? Santa, give it a break!

I'm sure everyone has noticed that over the last couple of years that Christmas seems to be getting thrown in our faces earlier and earlier each year, but this year was a little ridiculous. On Halloween, there were advertisements on the radio talking about Christmas shopping already. Some people already started counting down! Call me crazy, but on Halloween, the only thing I want to be concerned with is candy and Halloween-costume contests. Why must I see the jolly fat man on the television while I'm putting on my Black Swan costume?

I understand that stores want to remind people that Christmas is shopping to boost sales. Trust me, I worked in retail for over a year and we started talking about Christmas pretty early. But on Halloween? This whole obsession with Christmas shopping is really starting to rub me the wrong way, because it's completely ruining my other holiday experiences.

Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas as much as the next person. I love spending time with my family on Christmas. I love opening presents (yeah, I said it), but I don't really feel like concerning myself with all the shopping madness at least until Black Friday. Why must the media constantly be pushing such a special holiday down our throats? 

Last night, I was flipping through channels on the television and happened to catch How The Grinch Stole Christmas (the original because Jim Carrey as the Grinch gives me nightmares) . At first, I was so excited, because I love watching Christmas movies. Then I realized that it wasn't even the middle of November, and I needed to relax. 

I can only imagine how people feel that don't celebrate Christmas. 

Short story

       My brother and I were walking through the woods one Halloween day when we saw what appeared to be a short cut. "Let's go that way", my brother said. He grabbed my hand and we ran towards the hidden path. The leaves were extremely dry that day, so walking through the woods was a lot of fun. We were taking huge steps, trying to make as much noise as we could as we ran through the short cut. This short cut however, wasn't all that it was cracked up to be.
       "How come we've never seen this before? We go this way all the time and I've never seen this path", I said, slowing our run to a walk. I didn't feel safe at that moment. Everything looked different; the trees were hunched over, almost as if they were trying to grab us with their branches. It seemed to be darker now, almost like the sun wasn't strong enough to shine through these haunting trees. What scared me the most however, was how quiet it was. Completely silent. No birds. No wind. nothing. Ryan of course, didn't seem to notice.
       "We just never looked hard enough I guess. Come on, I'm sure we're almost there", he said, trying to reassure me. Ryan was always trying to make me feel better, even while bringing me places he knew I didn't want to go. Then all of a sudden, we took another step and before I knew it, we were falling. It seemed like we fell forever, but I'm sure it was only a few minutes.
       Ryan hit the ground first. The only reason I know this is because I landed on top of him. We were in shock, laying there among the leaves. Still, nothing made a sound. We were too scared to move, to speak. Eventually, I rolled off of Ryan, but our eyes never left each other. Too afraid to look at our surroundings, we kept stairing at each other's faces. Where did my brave brother go? He must still be up there, because the Ryan that I found at the bottom of that hole was just as afraid as I was; I was just better at hiding it.
       "What do we do? Meg, we need to get out of here. I want to go home. We need to get home", he whispered with great worry. His eyes were wide, and he was grabbing my shoulders, slighty shaking me with everything he said. What was I supposed to do? I was just his little sister.
       "Calm down, Ryan. You've got to calm down. We're smart, we can figure this out", I said outloud. "This path isn't that far away from the one we take home from school. Maybe if we yell, someone will hear us. Kids have to still be walking home, right?" And with that, we screamed for help. We screamed until our throats were hoarse, and then we screamed some more. Nothing. Not  a single soul heard us.