When friends come out to House Kirkland and witness the chaotic and emotional LOLlercoaster, they often conclude, “You should host a reality show! It would be awesome!” Having camera on what we do has certain ego satisfaction, so much so that I sent a treatment and short video to a friend in “the biz”. His response? “OMFG, let’s do it!” Alas, we’ve yet to pull the trigger—the drama du jour keeps getting in the way, putting our shenanigans to broadcast video requires at least two votes, and Mama Su has yet to see video from me that meets her high standards.
If we did…and I’m not saying we would…Tik Tok our day-to-day, we’ve no shortage of feelgood turnaround stories. Unlike Master Chef, Bar Rescue and Pimp My Ride, our drama is unscripted with no need to overstate the transition from bad to good. Take Charlie, a lovable, yellow and white longhair that came to us looking like Rocky after his first fight with Clubber Lang. On intake, we feared he’d lose his eye, but after review, our crew concluded as they do with everything furry “we can fix it.”
Fast forward to today, Charlie’s fixed, vaxxed and chipped and his eye is fine. The only obstacle to Charlie’s return to awesome was that he’s FIV+, no death sentence but an obstacle to placement through our usual retail outlets. After a few text exchanges, the finding Samaritan agreed to give this big hunk of fluffy friendly a forever home, and the only setback on Charlie’s return to the ‘hood was a stress-induced poop enroute that left my truck smelling like a cross-country horse transport.
Charlie is now back in a neighborhood he knows, we’ve got kennel space for another extreme makeover and more heartwarming content to pitch to a producer with more cash than common sense. No doubt, Mama Su will roll her eyes at my amateurish pics, but for now I’ll book the win and fantasize about our ratings on Animal Planet. Charlie.
