Latest / Every Pawprint! Every Story! / Chaos, Comfort, and the Candle That Kept Burning: Scott’s Story

Transcript

Chaos, Comfort, and the Candle That Kept Burning: Scott’s Story · Every Pawprint! Every Story!

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Hello everyone.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: This is Dan Popovic with Every Paw Print, Every Story.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: This is a new podcast that launched a couple weeks ago.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: For those of you that are new to this podcast, a little bit about it.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's a weekly conversation space where people honor pets they've lost, celebrate the joy pets bring, and support one another through pet grief.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: Each episode centers on a guest memories, the ritual that keeps those pets present in daily life, and the lessons of love and loss that pets teach us.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: Really, the goal with this podcast, or really kind of my hope, is to inspire, to guide, and support each other.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm excited today to welcome a special guest.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: Ironically, um Scott and I recently connected over LinkedIn from a post.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: And gosh, we we have a little history dating 15, 20 years ago.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: So Scott, welcome to the show.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, thanks, Dan.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Great to great to reconnect.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: And like you said, we have a long history in technology and product management, and obviously a love for our furry friends as well.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: So naturally, as we as we jump right into this, um, as you and I were talking briefly before this, you you caught my ear, you caught my attention on you you had 10 pets at one time, or you almost had 10 pets at one time.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: Talk talk about that.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: Was was that was that fostering?
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: Talk a little bit about that.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, I mean, uh, I had a unique experience, a childhood experience, actually, where when my parents and uh moved to Nebraska and my dad uh built a home, he actually built a home that had three acres of land.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: And uh my mom and dad decided that they wanted to breed dogs, so they were part of the AKC.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and uh they actually started to breed Norwegian elk hounds, which is a beautiful, sort of German shepherd-like dog.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: You don't see them as much in the US, but beautiful, a little bit smaller than a German Shepherd.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: And they were the first people to import the Karelian bear dog into the US.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, which is a a Finnish Russian dog designed and just it looks like a panda, so kind of a husky-like dog.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and it'd be just a beautiful dog.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so we went down that journey, and then over time, we just always had five, ten, I think at the peak we had 16 dogs, not bored, like they were our dogs, right?
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: We we they bred and sold a few, but over time the breeding stopped, and we just had a a corral of dogs, and then you know, amazingly, as fate has it, other dogs just sort of show up, right?
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Where we lived, it's like, oh, this this uh litter little mixed cocker spaniel shows up, and now we have her, and uh someone had to get rid of their little um uh Chihuahua mix, and so now Pepsi is our dog.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: And and uh so we ended up sort of having two a split backyard where we had a group of dogs that got along and another group that didn't get along.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I still remember the ruckus, like it was in Nebraska, so during the winter, you know, we'd bring them in at night, and the ruckus of them sort of running through the the the house down to the basement where we had kennels set up and the barking for food, and uh just a great memory of different dogs and uh Thor, Thunder, Heidi, Saida, Pepsi, just a lot of great dogs and memories, and some cats along the way too, not just not just about dogs.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: We also had a number of cats along the way as well.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: So uh so I just grew up always having dogs, cats, and a few other creatures uh in our in our yard and around our house.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: And uh so I always, you know, I knew that you know, once we had kids and such, that we ultimately would have some pets.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: And we had cats initially, and then uh got some dogs uh as well.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: What was the um I you you mentioned a bunch of the names, love it.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I yeah the name the name it what was the the naming convention, or how did you kind of come up?
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: You mentioned Pepsi.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: Were you guys going off of like characters and brands, or how was that kind of evolving?
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um it was the way we named it, we in between my sister and I um it there was no convention other than sort of what's kind of interesting for the day.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: So uh, but a couple of them, so Thor and Thunder were two Norwegian elk hounds, and Thor was sort of a sort of an iconic, you know, look at that dog looks like a Thor, a god, right?
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then Thunder, um, when it thundered, he would howl as a puppy like early on, very early on.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: So he his name sort of evolved into that.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, and then the other some of the others, my mom just liked some different names, so so that's sort of how how it evolved.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: Not yet, yeah.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: No, I love the Thor.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: I had it similar with uh you know Marley.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: She was the the inspiration behind all this, the the female Doberman that I had that we lost.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: And growing up, I always wanted a Doberman, but I wanted to name him Zeus or Apollo, right?
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, yeah.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: The whole Magnum PI thing.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: But you get a female Doberman, you're like, well, I don't know that Zeus or Apollo actually, or Apollonia, that doesn't quite work.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Aphrodite, right?
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: So we settled on Marley.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: But um, but yeah, go what was the so the two breeds you mentioned, gosh, I've never heard of of those breeds.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's pretty fascinating.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: Are those working?
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: Are they considered working dogs in the working class?
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they would be considered working dogs.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um the uh the elk hound, and they're and they're both they're they're both sort of cold and you know Nordic type dogs.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Again, very similar in I would say in the class of sort of the huskies and German Shepherds.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um the the the unfortunate reason maybe they're not as prevalent in the US is unfortunately they are known, they also many of them get hip dysplasia, which is really tough on dogs, especially big dogs, right?
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Because how do they get around?
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but uh yeah, interesting story.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: If you remember the guy who owned um there was like a Whole Foods before Whole Foods, and I can't remember the guy's name.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: You got me here in Atlanta, and uh um uh uh Murray in a hurry or something.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Harry's, I think it was called Harry's Harry's, okay, yeah, yep.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Harry's, and he actually bought some of the the uh uh the Karelian bear dogs, and so one time my mom was visiting Atlanta and we went to one of his stores before they closed down, and uh he was there, and so they were talking and reminiscing about some of the bear dogs that uh that he had uh he had and on a farm that that he had uh actually up in um I think he had uh had did did that in uh had a farm in uh Colorado or something.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: So but uh yeah, so it was great to have this.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I always wanted dogs around.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then as our kids were growing up, we initially had cats.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and then our uh it was here's the fun a funny story because I always sort of like the bigger dogs.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: When when we would go when I was younger and we went to um dog training at uh uh the um uh one of the places where they had the dog training, this lady had these little Yorkies, and she had a dog called Yorkie, uh Corky the Yorkie.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I did not like I did not like that at all.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: That dog is a yip-yip.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I say, you know what?
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'll do you know the breed I'm never gonna have Yorkis.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: So what do you think the breed is of the dog that we unfortunately lost?
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Yorkie, little Yorkie.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: My wife was like, I really like little dogs, and so she came home with this amazing little guy 12 years ago, um, around Halloween, and we have some really cool pictures of him when he was a little puppy, and so uh we got this little guy named Axel, named after so no naming-wise, named after Axel Rose.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, right, maybe because he's you know, Axel has a little attitude, and this guy, this little guy, Axel, our Axel had a little bit of attitude as well.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: Love it.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, uh, so he was with us up until August 22nd of this year, and was just like a beacon for us in terms of fun and energy, and um just always there, right?
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like he'd be I'm in my office, you can't see it, but he'd be under my feet.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: I still have his uh his little pad right here under my feet where he would he'd be sprawled out, and um, I remember when I had uh and he would sleep with us.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, here's his you can't see this since we're not doing video.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's his little paw print.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: Night, yeah.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: So he would sleep with us, and I I had the bulging disc in my back uh like in 2017, and I swear, you know, so I did the things you do, you know, go into Cairo and all that stuff, get some shots, maybe, and that all helped some.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: But what helped the most, I swear by it, is when he slept with us, he would get right in that spot in my lower back, and just the warmth of him being sprawled out there, he was like four pounds, he's a miniature Yorkie, and just that that energy, I'm I'm a hundred percent believing, believe that that helped with the healing process, no question.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: Interesting.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, he's always there, so that's uh yeah, yeah.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's a and you mean you say healing pro healing process with the back, obviously.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, just that warmth of him and his energy over time, right?
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: Every day.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so the what was what was always great too was when whenever I traveled and came back, um, and I opened the door and that little guy was right there, and he's spinning around, and I'd pick him up, and it's like lick, click, lick, lick, lick.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, so no matter, you know, uh, what a what a brutal trip getting back from a 12-hour flight from you know Tokyo, it's or wherever, it's longer than 12 hours, but and then you know, to see that little face just to greet you, right?
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a great all the other stuff falls away, like right, right?
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the cab ride or the Uber home was brutal.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Nope, there's your little there's your little guy just wanting some love.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: So that that's an amazing thing.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: Warms the heart, makes your day, brings a smile.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um absolutely that's awesome.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, no, I love this.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: So yeast 12 years, you said, right?
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we had him for 12 years, and um uh difficult difficult situation where um I had uh I had ankle surgery just to fix an old ankle, nothing major really, or so we thought.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: I had an ankle uh ligament procedure done, and it was going really well, and so Axel was always right there with me.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm in my I have a picture of him, I'm in my cast, and he's up at the top on the on the pillow sitting there.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: And um uh unfortunately I got a staph infection.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, the 0.07% chance, right?
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: And it was bad, and I had to go back in, and so he rushed to get me to the hospital because it was a big risk.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: And uh the day of the surgery, he just died.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: Very suddenly they had walked him, and I didn't, and it's what's what stinks about it is I didn't get a chance to give over I had to rush out because the doctor's like, we need to take care of this really quickly, get you on antibiotics.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: So we didn't get a chance to really love him up.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: And he always, he always when Heidi and I, my wife, when we would travel somewhere and we had to leave him for a week or so, he definitely felt the depression.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: He was not the little pup that liked to for us to be gone, right?
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: And other people, our daughter and other family members could it just wasn't the same, and so he would be depressed, and so we had to rush out and literally the and they didn't tell me probably good to not tell me that what had happened, and basically they had walked him and uh he was fine, and then that night he threw up and was sick, and so they were watching him, and then unfortunately, before we could get him to the vet, he just passed away in my wife's arms at like 7 a.m.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: the morning of my surgery.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, and then uh they didn't want to tell me, which was probably a good idea because I was struggling a bit with this infection situation, and uh so got through that, and then the next day they told me, and it was it was sad because that was one of the things you're looking forward to, right?
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: When you get home, like, hey, how's that?
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: And then I'm asking, and they had to like I said, how's Axel?
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because I knew he was sick the night before.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: How is he?
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, he's fine, you know, and they didn't want to tell me because of what I was going through.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I guess we kind of think that he felt that maybe it was just his time to go.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I'd always told him when I would hold him, and I wanted to be the one that held him when he passed, because you know it's gonna happen, right?
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that like I've I've studied philosophy a great bit with the Schopenhauers and Nietzsche's and Voltaire's and all those folks, and the reality is life that's part of life, right?
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: You mentioned your parents having to deal with passing with family members and our pets, and so you know it's coming, but you're never ready for it.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'd always hold him and tell him, Look, whenever it's your time to go, you have done so much for us these this you know 10 years, 12 years.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Whenever it's time for you to go, we love you, you go and pass on when it's your time.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: But I just didn't think it was gonna be then, so you never prepared for it.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so at least my wife was able to hold him.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, and he that he had a couple other he'd had um a challenge twice before a couple years prior, where we were walking him and uh freaking copperhead snake, little copperhead, just jumped out of the grass and bit him on the nose.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow, yeah, and we thankfully we saw it and we didn't know that he got bit, but then we saw like a little mark, and we're like, I looked it up, I had to pick it.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh boy, copperhead.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: We better go to we better go to the vet right away or go to the the emergency vet.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: And we had to find one that had anti-venom.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: So we ended up, I think, in coming, those are the closest we're driving over there from Norcross, and we're there all night long, all night long.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: I come home for some stuff.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: Heidi stays the night with him, and it worked, helped, he recovered.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, you never know, like that the impact that stuff has on their little body, especially the little guy.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe two years later was is still damaged to his kidneys, or who who knows what.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: And uh then the feeling with me having to rush off for what I had to do, the the psychological part with that, you know, that has an impact on them.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, and it's traumatic.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like when you're when they're in the the um the ER for pets, right?
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: The VEGs of the world and the the blue pearls, you know, it's pretty traumatic, right?
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: They got them hooked up to IVs, and you're you're asking, geez, should we be doing this for the little guy or for any of your pets, right?
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: We had a couple other pets that went, or one other pet that had to go through some of that as well.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: And they don't really know, like with you know, they all the diagnostics, well, it might be this, it might be that.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: And in this case, at least we knew a snake had bitten him, right?
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh uh, but uh, so you you ask yourself, because I'm also adverse to, you know, like you put it, do you put your pet down?
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean, you if they're in real pain, yeah, but also do you let them, do you let God and the the universe sort of guide them through their process, and if they're comfortable and whatnot, and you can hold them to the end.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of think that makes sense.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: If they're in a lot of pain where they got hit by a car and they can't walk, and they just then sure, but so you we all have to make those decisions, and whichever it is, it's never easy, right?
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: Right, and so but you you just have to I think that the thing that really stands out like memory-wise is and this is good for all of us too, is that the excitement when you take them for a walk, just the excitement of life for that, and here you know what do we have to complain about?
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like, oh, you know, I lost my job, blah blah blah.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, fine, but are you excited about just that walk and smelling, you know, dog smell it like smell, but smelling the flowers, taking instead of like walking and you're on your phone the whole time.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I took a lot of measure from that when we'd walk him and another dog of ours at the same time, and just the joy of that, right?
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a good part of life.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I mean, we're in technology, look at all the stress that that we've been put under.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, the release process, the feature there, they want the customer wants this feature, and it's like, you know what?
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna take my dog for a walk.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: How about that?
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: So no, I can't.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, yeah, keep keep going, but no, I mean, I I I love this.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I think this is spot on for listeners of this show to kind of you know take heart, take listen to what you're what you're talking about, what you're saying, because you're spot on.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um I even love it.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: It feels like you were somewhat already mentally prepared from what how you were describing and what you're talking about, and just psychology, because I know a lot of people have reached out to me recently that they're not even mentally prepared.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then it happens, and then you're like, Well, what the heck?
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what to do now.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it sounds like you were at least mentally prepared to the best as you could be, even though it was still kind of sudden, it sounds like.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, I didn't, I mean, I I had really anticipated, I mean, Yorkis can live 15 plus years in a lot of cases.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I was I was mentally aware and just like knowing that hey, it will happen and it's gonna really be hard.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: But it's also life, and so don't don't be fearful of it.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, let it let yourself grieve through it and everything you need to do.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: But so it just goes back to just what like grandmas have told us enjoy every moment, squeeze them every time, hug them every time.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: When they want, when they want something, yeah, we should spoil them.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I sort of also feel, you know, God put us on this planet.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and part of that is we we have a responsibility to take care of the animals and treat them, treat them with respect.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: Do, you know, the the be here to honor them because they give us a lot.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: They probably give us more than we give them.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: Not probably, they do.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: I got way more, way more from Axel than I could ever give him.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: Did you um I know we're coming close to the end of our segment here?
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um what what did you do to kind of uh memorial uh memorialize the the loss or remember?
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: I know you showed that that little paw pendant a minute ago.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um what were some of the other things you might have done?
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean the the the we did this when one of our other dogs passed.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, let's make sure we have this little paw print, so that's good.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um we did actually do a little uh ceremony and we we buried him outside the window.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um and um one of the things we'll do that we've done with a couple other pets is I made books, picture books.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: Nice, yes, yep.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so we've got a thousand pictures of so right now we have two other dogs that had passed.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: We've got the the Princey book and the ghost book and their coffee table books, right?
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: And uh they're great sort of memoirs or you know, views of their life, and like the the ghost book at the end has this amazing picture of him running in the sunset in a field, and it's like wow, that's so awesome! And I have this picture of Axel where my wife is holding him, and the sunset is right in the background of his little head, and so one of the things we'll do, I'm not ready to do it yet because I don't I'm to go through all the pictures and getting the kids to pull them all together and get them into Apple Pictures or whatever it is, and so I'll do that.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'll probably wait a year.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but that's one of the things they'll be there'll be an Axel coffee table book, and there's gonna be some great memories and pictures.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but we buried them outside, we lit a candle for the first week, and man, so I was still not able to walk, I was still on crutches and still in a difficult spot where I'm on eight uh ivy pick line antibiotics for like six weeks.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: It was serious stuff.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: And man, what was great was even though it was sad, is I looked out the window when I happened to wake up a few nights in a row, 4 a.m.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: And this candle just burned for the like there's no way the candle should have burned for that long.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I know it was Axel just giving us a sign.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm here.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: Love you.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: Could be there, man.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm right there with you.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, right?
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: That you do in um the pictures.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and you don't want to overdo it, because look, you gotta get over it.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you don't you gotta get through it.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to get over it, get through it, and again, relish the memories because they they they come and go quickly.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: And um so just hold them every chance you get and relish those those things.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's what you have to do.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I did.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: Part of the healing part.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: No, I appreciate that because that was gonna be one of my I think you answered the question I was gonna ask you is I mean, obviously the the big purpose of this episode is to to share these moments and um, but then also to help others, what make suggestions to them on what what should they do if they haven't experienced this yet.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um and it sounds like you know, from your story and what you're talking about is yeah, hold them every day, you know, get give that affection and love back to them.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because like you said, yeah, we know they're not gonna be here with us right forever.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: So for some of us, it's shorter than others.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um but no, I take the time to grieve and say goodbye, like say goodbye, but not from the standpoint of don't remember them.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: But you gotta you gotta honor that and let it go, right and and find the joy, right?
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: Don't hurt, don't let the pain go.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: Find find the joy.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's like that's why a lot of times when when people pass away now, they do they don't you don't have a funeral, you have a celebration of life, which is way better.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, way better, yep.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: So you do that too, and just you know, take those cherish the moments and and build and try to be a better person yourself, right?
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: 100% you can, we all can be a little bit better.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: So follow there's a great book out there called Atomic Habits by this guy James Clear, and it's really just about every day can you get a little bit better and whatever it is, a little more love, a little more awareness, and then help out.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like I just randomly donate things to you know, like one of the dogs that we got that my my daughter rescued is a husky rescue.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: We could talk about that maybe in another podcast.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just sort of randomly donate money to that to that uh that shelter.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: Don't ask for I'm not just every once in a while I'll just send them.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: I go on on Amazon and the other, what do they need?
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll order a couple hundred dollars worth of stuff.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: And that's I don't even know.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even know if they know where it comes from, it just shows up.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, um I think we're I think we're at the end.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: So that that's phenomenal.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you for opening up, sharing the story.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um definitely, definitely we'll do a follow-up, get you back.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, just you know, again, can't thank you enough.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: So excited that you and I got reconnected.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: Don't go anywhere just yet.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'll not close this out.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_01: But um, for those listeners on this show, um, you know, reach out.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um you will notice in the description of the episodes.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: You can send me an email if you want to get on here and talk about your pet as well.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there's a copy link to the to book to the book as well that kind of inspired this.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: So again, thank you, Scott, uh for sharing with us today.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, glad to be here.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Dan, so much.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for doing what you're doing to bring awareness to this for all of the our furry friends and pets out there.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Scott.
• 25:50
  unknown: Hang on.