Happy Birthday to Pugsley’s Mom

Today is the birthday of my friend Gayle.  These are some of the things I know about Gayle:

• She has the tenderest of hearts. At the same time, she has a fierce love for her family, her friends, her beloved fur babies, for folks living with HIV/AIDS, and really, for anyone who cannot speak for themselves.  Do NOT mess with anyone that Gayle loves.
• She is a proud resident of Staten Island, living a modest life in her home full of love and pets and extended family. At the same time, she has this big world of friends and friends who have become family all over the internet.  I’m proud to be included.
• She is a poet and can bring comfort to the saddest of hearts. At the same time, I would NOT suggest you mess with her, her daughters, her dogs, her cats, her friends or really any dog. Or cat.  Or person who cannot speak for themselves. 
• She drives a red car.  A perfect night for her might be a potluck with neighbors, a sleepover with her adult daughters, or piled up in bed listening to Dean Martin reading 3 newspapers with dogs and cats snuggled in all around her.

And we have never met.  Well, never met in person anyway.

I met Gayle on the AOL Pug Board 10 years ago when my first little pug Herbie was alive.  A finer group of folks you would never find.  And Gayle is the glue that has held us all together for many of these years.  Sadly, AOL has decided to take down all of their boards and today signals the end of an era.  Not to be dissuaded, we are piecing the old group back together on a group page on facebook.

I love any turn in life that makes friends of folks who we might never have met if not for one event or place or time.  And I love Gayle.  She’s on my list (along with Mother Theresa) of people I would most like to meet.  So grateful for all of my pug board friends, and tonight especially for Gayle!  Enjoy your day, my friend!