Rainy Days

It’s Fall here in Portland and oh man… those beautiful warm days are gone. Time marches on and the Seasons certainly reinforce that. I lived in Los Angeles for nine years and there were basically two seasons… Summer and Spring… and maaaaybe a week or so of Fall. Here? Mother Nature lets you know.

I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining… but maybe I am… a tad bit. I did move here full well knowing and wanting all four season. So there you go.

As seasons change… so does life sometimes. Can we all agree that the past 19 months have just been… insane? The Pandemic certainly threw nearly everyone’s life into chaos. I moved from LA to Portland in the midst of it… crazy… I know. It was extremely necessary though. Living the Pandemic as a single person was something I’ve never before experienced before and hope to never have to experience again. When you can’t interact with other people… it's kinda the worst. Human beings are social creatures… that is a fact. We need that interaction. While we did have Zoom… sure… Zoom was great... but I couldn’t hug or high-five someone over Zoom. It is NOT the same. Invariably I hit a breaking point… or at least one of several. I got my first dog ever.

Her name was Ginny.

She was rescued all the way from Taiwan and taken to a Humane Society outside of Astoria. A Chow-Chow mixed with a Shiba Inu. She was a great girl. Sadly she did have some hind leg issues… I was told when I got her that she had been mauled pretty badly when she was younger and that her legs had never fully healed. That never dampened her spirit though. I always and still do think of her as a most loving Warrior Queen. Stubborn yet adventurous. Always wanting to smell anything and everything. That was my girl. Walks were… let's just say a tad bit of a challenge. If Ginny had it her way… they would last at least two hours… but we eventually got to a place where she would have her smells and the walks were very manageable.

Time moved on.

And Vaccines happened!

Life changed.

I freely admit that I got a dog because I was lonely. When one is in a brand new city and doesn’t know anyone but family & one friend… it’s a bit daunting and extremely isolating. Ginny… I would say ‘healed’ me in a very real sense as much as I was rehabilitating and ‘healing’ her. I needed an awesome friend who was there for me at all times and she provided that in spades. I took her to the Vet and made sure that she got the medication and proper food supplements to help her with her mobility issues. I know for a fact that she lost weight and was a healthier girl because of her time with me.

Seasons change.

As Vaccines became more and more commonplace… things started to change. Portland started to open up patios and also some places started to mandate Vaccine checks to even get into their businesses. Which was great! Life kind of started to get back to normal… if that even is a thing.

Seasons change.

I started to go out and I made friends. Life was fun again! I was living it. I wasn’t stuck in my apartment by myself anymore. I was actually going out on dates. Oooh là là. What are those? I thought I had forgotten. They happened! It was great times… most of the time!

Seasons change.

Ginny was the best girl… but I wasn’t doing my best by her. She deserved a better life than what I was giving her. Sometimes Life really intercedes and demands you to make a choice. As you well know, my dear Reader, I write a Craft Beer Travel blog. Travel is one of those words in that sentence. Travel is extremely important to me. Travel lights a fire in me that I don’t know how to describe… unless it’s a whole other post. Maybe I’ll get to that. Who knows? ANYWHOOOO. A choice had to happen.

And last Friday was an extremely hard day… but it was a necessary day. I drove Ginny up to Astoria and returned her to the Humane Society that I got her from. It was one of the hardest things I’ve done. You ever feel your heart being ripped out of your chest in sadness? There was that. The worst part was I knew my girl knew. I told her the night before and I know some of you may be saying… Brandon… dogs can’t understand English. Sure. They can’t. Emotions and feelings though? More adept than us human beings.

The one thing I do know in my heart and soul is… I know that the Universe has her and that she is going to have an amazing life. I know I gave her the six months that she needed to heal up and be the best girl she could be before moving on to her forever home. I know this.

So yeah… this may not be about Craft Beer or Travel… but isn’t Life just as important? Without that… those two couldn’t exist. With this though… I will be able to take more Defiant Hops with you to new and exciting places that neither of us can possibly imagine. I already have some very promising destinations and experiences planned out.

Seasons change but Life remains exciting and promising.

Let’s see where this Defiant Hop takes us…