Now that it has turned cold in the morning, I’m back wearing the go-to hat I seem to wear six months out of the year early in the morning when taking Maggie The WonderBeagle outside.
It’s warm, it’s comfortable, and it’s proof that when Maggie came to live with us, she brought along a guardian angel.
You see, the hat says World Series Champions on it, and was acquired within days of the Washington Nationals winning the World Series back in 2019. A lot of other things were also acquired at the time, but it really doesn’t make sense to still wear such things that proclaim how good you are when you’re finishing up your fifth straight year of having a losing record.
But this hat is special. Mainly because a week after I got it, my wife and I went to a pet adoption event at a local Petco, and it was there I got to see the young, excited eyes of a baby beagle/foxhound mix who would follow me home that night.
We named her Maggie, and while she instantly loved everyone, she immediately bonded with me. She spent most of that first evening in my lap watching a football game, and I told her that night “you go where I go,” which she’s pretty much held me to. In the 5 years since, my wife has gone on overnight trips with friends and been away from her, but I haven’t. Every morning, her world involves seeing me and she now even gets annoyed when I go play golf for an afternoon.
But a few days after she got here, she was feeling her oats, and as all puppies do, she started chewing on things. Most of her chewing involved me, as she treated my hands, fingers, arms – whatever she could reach – as chew toys. I complained about it on Twitter, and a very nice person I follow DM’d me and asked for my mailing address, which I provided.
In the mail a week later came a package of chew toys along with a note that said “Dear Maggie: don’t bite the hand that feeds you. Chew on these instead.” This remains one of the nicest things I’ve ever encountered, and at the time after reading Maggie the note, told her “you must have a guardian angel somewhere out there.”
One thing I love about Maggie is she has a very unique personality, which includes being very smart at some times, and being a headstrong pup who doesn’t listen at others. One of those other times involved the World Series hat, which I had placed in a chair along with a jacket to get to quickly in case a certain canine had to go outside.
The hat has a knitted accent on top in the shape of a ball. While I was away from my office working on something in the basement, Maggie decided that ball-like shape would really feel good against her back molars, and despite having a dozen chew toys, thought the hat might be better.
When I returned an hour later, the hat was laying out in the hallway. The top looked like a ball of yarn that a herd of cats had been playing with for quite some time. Maggie gave me that shy, I didn’t mean to do it look all dogs give when they are guilty as sin and caught in the act of their crime.
I wasn’t happy. At all.
I tried to trim the remains with scissors hoping to salvage the hat, but it was a waste of time. I chucked it in a drawer and thought one day maybe I’ll get another one if you could find one. Back then there was a frenzy over the Nationals winning the World Series, so when Series merchandise went on sale, you needed to hustle over to the store selling it because otherwise, they’d sell out in an hour or less.
I had bemoaned all this on Twitter, so it was no secret that my new rambunctious pup had destroyed one of my favorite possessions. But what was a surprise was a meeting with a client I had a few days later. While talking about plans for changes to their website, their marketing director slid a package across the table.
In it was a note that said “Maggie said she’s sorry.”
Next to the note was a brand new replacement hat.
When I got home I told her “you are one blessed little dog who must have a guardian angel.” She just looked back as if to say “the same could be said about you” while also acting like “and you weren’t going to do anything about it anyway. I OWN you.”
Five years later, I’m still out with her every cold morning, with the same warm hat, and warmer memories of how we’re both pretty lucky and blessed. Don’t get me wrong, she’s still a criminal.
But she’s my criminal. And a lucky one at that… 😊
And Maggie is how I started following you, beagles are magnets but your writings are good too👍😂
Well thank you! And Maggie has sat in my lap and edited every one of them 🙂