If you know me, you know that dogs are my life and my passion. In recovery, helping people has become equally important to me.
When I was a kid, I loved dogs so much I wanted to be a veterinarian. But really, that was only a dream. Growing up, my dad battled with substance abuse disorders while my mom had schizophrenia and a methamphetamine addiction. I was twelve years old when I started using alcohol and drugs to cope with the trauma, and by the end of my teens, I was using substances daily.
But in my early twenties, my boyfriend and I decided to adopt a puppy. We named him Oscar, and from the start, this little baby dog just captivated me. I fell so hardcore in love it was crazy; he rekindled my love of dogs in a major way. I found a job as a receptionist at a veterinary clinic and began studying to be a technician.
I got a job as a bartender to help with tuition, but that only made my drinking and drug use worse. That’s also when I fell into an abusive, extremely toxic relationship with a man who would eventually father my daughter. Oscar was there for all of it—the substance abuse, the misery, and the violence. In the face of everything, he was my rock.
I left my abuser when my daughter was a year old. Still drinking, still an alcoholic. I got a DUI and was diagnosed with thyroid cancer while I was fighting a bitter war with my daughter’s father for custody, and even in my darkest moments, Oscar was there. Loving me unconditionally, never judging me. I truly wouldn’t be alive today without him.
Oscar died in 2019. He was sixteen and a half years old. I wish that he could have lived a life with me where I wasn’t in active addiction, but he’ll live forever in the work I do with PAWsitive Recovery. It’s crazy that the love I felt for Oscar when he was a puppy, our instant connection, sort of set up the whole trajectory of my life—becoming a veterinary technician, my passion for dogs, my sobriety, and PAWsitive Recovery.
PAWsitive Recovery’s mission is to keep people and their pets together during the healing process. When you allow a person who is broken to stay with their animal, they can focus on getting better and rebuilding other relationships in their life, instead of trying to cope with the additional trauma of having to rehome a beloved companion.
I’ve been sober since 2021. My beautiful daughter is growing up safe and loved. We have three dogs and a wonderful life here in Colorado, and I spend my days helping people heal, finding loving foster homes for their animals while they take the time they need to get themselves better. In so many ways this is all Oscar’s legacy.
I dedicate PAWsitive Recovery to him.