Author: shelaghmarie

16-year-old me decided I would one day own a Sheltie. 23-year-old me decided it was a good idea. Neither version of myself had any idea what I was in for.

I did some research and found a reasonably local breeder, Yvonne. I went to meet her and the mom of the litter I was picking from and the next thing I knew I had put down a deposit on a puppy due in early November.

Yvonne emailed me on November 1, 2011 to let me know Izzie had given birth to five puppies – two girls and three boys. I went to meet them when they were about four weeks old to pick one. I thought I wanted a female since they tended to be cuddlier and sweeter. But Dallas chose me. His littermates all went to pile up to sleep, but he wouldn’t leave me. He sat in front of me, his little feet sliding out from under him on the hardwood floor, determined to stick around as long as I did. I picked him up and he fell asleep in the crook of my arm. I was a goner.

He fooled me.

Four-week-old Dallas was a sleepy baby. When I brought him home on December 30 at nine weeks, he was…not so sleepy. He was, as all puppies are, rambunctious and playful and curious. He was never a bad dog, never destructive, and incredibly easy to house train. But it quickly became obvious that he had some unique quirks.

You see, Dallas is noise-phobic. I didn’t know that was a thing until I talked to my vet about his over-the-top reactions to things like sneezes, the opening of pop cans, thunder, hammering, etc. We ended up putting my dog on a mild anti-anxiety medication. Yes, that exists for dogs. Yes, it feels ridiculous. But yes, it helps. A lot.

He got prettier and prettier as time went on and it soon became obvious he was going to be big for a Sheltie. He grew up beautifully and became a well-mannered, usually well behaved, very sweet companion.

I was living with a friend when I brought Dallas home and that spring decided it was time to get my own place. I’ll never forget moving day. I put Dallas in the car and started it to warm up while I scraped the frost off the windows. Dallas thought the scraper was something to be chased and, as he assaulted my windshield from inside, managed to step on the lock button and lock me out of the car. I had to call my mom, who was a half hour away, to come with my spare key. When we got the car opened, he’d been napping and opened one eye to look at me as if to ask what my problem was and why I was disturbing him.

He was a welcome distraction when I was in university. He made sure I took study breaks as he needed attention and walks, and he kept me laughing when things were stressful.

I bought my own condo in July 2013 when Dallas was not quite two. He handled the move (and the new roommate) like a champ. Then, that December, my boyfriend moved in. I used to half-joke that if my dog didn’t like my boyfriend, the boyfriend would have to go. (We’re married now, so I think that went okay.)

My boyfriend proposed in May of 2016. As he had been for all of our milestones, Dallas was there for that.

A burst pipe in the ceiling in our master bedroom caused a massive flood in the summer of 2016. We had to move out (for four months) for repairs and again, Dallas was a champ. Our two cats were very stressed by it all, but we didn’t need to worry about the dog.

A broken pipe on the third floor of our building caused another flood this year. Dallas was not the most helpful while I was cleaning up water. For some reason he thinks wet towels are fantastic toys and he had the best day “helping” me mop up water.

I’ve lived in apartments with Dallas his whole life. This spring, we’re finally buying a house and he’ll have a yard for his senior years. He loves to lay in long grass and sunbathe in the summer, he loves to crunch through leaves in the fall. He lives for bounding through snowdrifts in winter, and spring runoff and puddles are great fun. I can’t wait for him to have all of that right outside our door.

He barks at things, as Shelties do. People walking by the patio door. People making noise in the hallway of our condo building. Having the door closed in his face when you’re going to the bathroom and need some privacy. He’s got some opinions, and he wants to share them. Age is creeping up on him, slowly but surely, but he refuses to let it get the best of him.

He’s not the best dog, but he’s my dog. And I’m thankful for our many years together.

In many ways, the plot of a story follows the same sort of timeline as a storm. A new day starts, gets a little darker, and the next thing you know a storm is raging.

The story spine provides a brief layout of how a story should go. Thinking of it in terms of the life cycle of a rainstorm can help a writer visualize exactly what comes next.

From sunrise (the beginning of the story) through the gathering clouds, the storm itself, and then, finally, the clearing sky, this layout helps keep it clear to the author where they need to go next.

I have had so many friends talk about their love for The Office (the American version) and I had never seen an episode. So today, I changed that. I watched and live-tweeted the first episode and now I’m conflicted.

It starts out weird, stays weird, and ends weird and I’m not sure I get it. There’s a lot of focus on Michael Scott (obviously, Steve Carrell is top billing after all) and he’s not just a bad boss – he might be a bad person. The Jim and Pam relationship is uncomfortable. There’s just so much strangeness but it’s also weirdly compelling. I’ll probably have to keep watching at least for a bit, just to see if I can understand the hype.

Read all about it here.

I have always loved to read and, for some reason, one of the stories that has stuck with me for many years is The Very Hungry Caterpillar. It’s obviously a children’s book, but it’s always held a special place in my heart – to the point that I now buy a copy for every one of my friends when they have a baby. It allows me to share a cherished piece of my childhood with a new generation.

Why I Love It

This story has stuck with me because, as my mom tells me, it was the first book I read aloud on my own. It is, obviously, an easy book. But, what makes it easy? It sticks to the story spine and keeps the story focused.

• (One night) In the light of the moon there was an egg.

• Then one day the egg hatched and out came a caterpillar who was very hungry.

• Because of that he ate. A lot.

• Because of that he grew.

• Until finally he built a cocoon.

• And ever since then he’s been a butterfly.

Sure I’ve boiled it down and left out some of the “because of that”-s, but it’s a lovely, light, uncomplicated story.

It’s a Rule…Bender

Being such a short story, it doesn’t adhere to all of Pixar’s 22 rules of storytelling, but it does follow a few (and some we’ll never know, since we’ll never see the author’s thought process) and you can bend your imagination a little bit to make a few more work as well. Who’s to say a kid wouldn’t admire the caterpillar for eating all that food (and be a little jealous he got so much sweet stuff)?

#6 on Pixar’s list is an interesting one to consider – what is your character good at? Obviously, eating. Throw the polar opposite at them – give him a tummy ache! It’s very simple, to be sure, but the author definitely understands his audience.

#15 is also accurate in a way I find amusing. “If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel?” Anyone who ate through “one piece of chocolate cake, one ice cream cone, one pickle, one slice of Swiss cheese, one slice of salami, one lollipop, one piece of cherry pie, one sausage, one cupcake, and one slice of watermelon” would, without doubt, feel quite ill.

The Importance of Being Pretty

One thing that always appealed to me about the book was how colorful it is. The apple he eats on the first day stands out as a beautiful red among a background of green leaves. That red apple symbolizes the beginning of his short journey. From that red apple, his story has truly started. As he eats through the week and gets to a day full of desserts, the page becomes technicolor, bright and fun. This isn’t something that’s mentioned as much, but visual appeal is incredibly important and this translates from print to digital. The hardcover version of the book I’ve owned for close to thirty years has dulled somewhat with age (though I think I’ve kept it in pretty good shape!), so imagine my joy when I found it turned into a stunning animation on YouTube. They stayed true to the illustrations when they animated it, and kept the colour palette.

To Sum Up

Sometimes the best stories aren’t the most complex, sweeping epics. They aren’t always fancy prose and life or death plot lines. Sometimes the best stories are the simple, sweet, colourful books that teach us to love reading when we’re still young enough to see all the possibilities in a single red apple on a page.