Thank You

Normally I talk about my book or I talk about the stupid things people do...but today is going to be different. I'm going to talk about the love people show. Why? Because I was blown away by it this weekend...in two parts...

PART I
On Saturday afternoon I took my dog to the vet. I'd found a hard round bump on his tail and wanted to have it looked at. $365 later I walked out of the office in tears; my dog looking at me like, "Why are you upset? I'm the one they stuck with needles and we won't even talk about where that man's hand went!".

Let me preceede what I'm going to say with this; Keziah isn't a neutered pet. He eppileptic and I'd been warned against putting him under and so he still is ALL male. His prostate was checked in July and he was fine. I asked the vet then if I should have him fixed as he was getting older (Today actually is his 11th Bday!) and the vet said, "If its not broke, don't fix it." So...well...now...it's broke.

Keziah's prostate is very inflamed and the bump on his tail is one of two things; a sign he has some disease with a long name I don't remember right now or he just has an infection in his prostate and the medication he's on at the moment should get rid of it. I was told I was lucky...finding the bump on his SUPER fluffy tail was sort of a slim chance. PLUS, if it IS the super long named disease aformentioned the bump being on the tail is good as its removable from that location. I asked what would happen w/o the surgery. As delicately as he could put it, he said my dog would grow sicker and sicker and pass away. So I asked how much for the surgery to remove the cyst and have him fixed. I was informed $700. Needless to say, I about choked. $700 to save his life...but I don't have $700 extra bucks in the bank.

I held it together and left the office. I made it about ten steps and I was crying. I proceded to keep it under control for the 6 block walk home where I collapsed into heavy sobs and I stayed that way for the rest of the day. I posted a vague description of the issue on Facebook (under my real name, not my pen name) and in moments I had all kinds of messages with *hugs* and nice words to encourage me...voices of sympathy/empathy. It was wonderful.

I then open an email from my cousin. She saves her change every year to donate to their local shelter (she's very active with vets and dogs in general) and this email blew me away. She said if I wanted her to talk to her vet friends to see if the surgery is really needed she would. She also said that instead of donating her change to the shelter this year, she'd gladly give it to Keziah for his surgery. I was shocked.

I then get another email from a friend in my theatre circle and she says to me that there is no way that Keziah will go w/o the surgery if he needs it, she'll send me a check for the money. If I was shocked before I was blown away now.

I have NO idea what I did to deserve this but I was thanking God over and over for these two amazing women.

Now, we're going to back up our story a bit...to Friday night. Why? Cause it leads us nicely into part two of my "story"...

PART II
I took my pal Celine dancing with me on Friday night and while we were out my friend Sheri says to me, "Did you go see A-ha?" For those of you NOT from the 80's let me explain that the music group A-ha were quite popular when I was in high school. I had a huge ol' crush on either the guitar player or the lead singer...depending on the day...and I'd never seen them live. Well, Sheri says it's their Farewell Tour and Saturday night is their last show...and its sold out. Well, damn.

Anyhoo, she texts me while I'm in my non-stop-sobbing mode and says I should try to see if anyone is selling tickets outside. Well, I'm thinking, "I may have to pay for a dog surgery...there's no way I can go." But at 7:30pm a wave of something washes over me that tells me to stop crying, get off my ass and get out of the house. Before I know it I'm up, dressed, attempting to put contacts into puffy eyes and throwing make-up on as best as I can to hide how badly swollen my face is....and I'm out the door. I'm on the 1 train by 8:05pm and heading downtown to the Nokia Theater thinking, "What the fuck am I doing?"

I get off at 42nd Street, push through the hordes of tourists to the theater, which is on 44th and 7th. The minute I get to the corner I see two big black guys looking to buy tickets. They are asking everyone that is going by. They ask this nice man and he says he has two and I step in and say to the girl behind him (who is his cousin), "How many tickets do you have extra?" Turns out, they had 3. So I follow along and he sells me a ticket for $50 (only a $5 mark up from normal price). I literally have $53 in my wallet. I give him the $50 and I go in with them. I get talking to the lovely lady who is with the two men and we all end up chatting down by the bar. Mark, the one who had bought the tickets, asks me if I'd like a drink. If there was ever a day I needed one this was the day!!!! I say "sure, that'd be great."

To make a long story short; I used my last $3 at the coat check, Mark bought everyone two rounds at the bar, & the four of us talked and drank (for 45 min during the opening band). At one point I had to laugh, getting into this sold out concert was like a gift. Without thinking I said to myself "after the day I've had, I really needed this". Blake (the really nice young lady of the group) asked about my day and I told them...but with VERY little detail, no tears and a positive outlook (I WAS an actor at one time ya know).

As we are about to head in to see the band Mark hands me my $50 back. He says, "for your dog if he needs the surgery". I about begin to cry in the lobby of the theatre. SO not cool. I try to give it back to him...he refuses. I thank him and we all head into the theater together. The place is packed and we're in the back and it's hard for a shorty like me to see. Blake says to me I should see how close I can get since I'm here by myself. I hand her my card and tell her to contact me about business stuff we'd talked about and I head into the packed crowd. By the end of the concert I end up about 10 to 15 feet from the stage. And for 2 hours I didn't cry or think about my day...I just enjoy the miracle that sometimes is my life.

So thank you to Mark, Matt and Blake. You three saved my day. Being as that I gave my pen name card...maybe you'll search for info on me and find this blog posting and know how much meeting you three that night meant to me.

So you see...it wasn't just my amazing friends that showed me "the love" this weekend...it was total strangers too. Sheri said, "there still are good people out there". And she's right. Mind you, most of them are my friends...but well, some are strangers from Jersey.

Much love and thanks to my friends and to the strangers who touched my heart,
Tamsin

P.S. To my friend Vince...your phone call meant so very much...thank you! xo