#uptownroger

I’m skipping around between adoption things and other life things. My friends at work said this could quickly become a dog blog. I’ll try not to let that happen.

In the post “Uncle Roger’s Tail” I ended by saying I would tell you how he got the hash tag #uptownroger. So this is the story.

The three of us moved to Uptown in April . . . May? April.

May.

We (I) was a little afraid because it isn’t the most safe neighborhood. It is “up and coming” but it isn’t up yet. It’s coming. Gangs are active right around the corner and I’m 90% sure I’ve seen 11 drug deals since we moved in. One day we were walking out of our apartment door and heard 10 or 12 consecutive shots fired from what we found out later was an assault rifle. That’s the day this happened.

But not to fear, Uncle Roger is here!

I was glad to have a big dog to walk around with in case I needed some protection. He’s very intimidating.

He once co-starred as Goliath alongside this guy, David.

That’s my mom and Dad’s yorkie. If you aren’t familiar with the story, read here.

I knew I was safe with my beast by my side walking around the dangerous streets of Uptown. No one would mess with me. I would feel shielded and keep barriers up between me and the scary people.

As we started walking around with this dog my idea of what his purpose was totally changed. I expected him to be a protector and keep a space between me and the people around me.

What I didn’t expect was this.

And this.

And this.

There are more but I’ll save them for later.

The point is, I was stupid. I thought Roger would protect us from people but he ended up helping us to meet our neighbors. He is a 130 pound ice breaker. We can hardly walk a block without talking to someone about him, someone talking to him, or us wiping slobber off of someone. Some of the people we would have thought were “scary” have been the nicest people we’ve met and I don’t know that we would have stopped to have a conversation unless he was walking with us. I did not need a protector. I needed a cool dog that opens doors for communication and friendship. He facilitates building relationships with the people in our neighborhood, which is exactly the reason we moved here! He was in the plan for us before we knew what the plan was.

When I started telling some friends about this new role he stepped into, one friend Alyssa said “He should have a hash tag. And it should be Uptown Roger.” I thought it was brilliant. There have been a few times when strangers want to take a picture of him or have me take their picture with him. Then I mention his hash tag.

I hope to have a collection of the different people we meet because of him. For now the collection is around 30 pictures taken by me, 10 by my sister-in-law, Jan, and 5 by Uncle Roger’s biggest love/hater, Sher. Maybe 2 from strangers. But it’s getting there.

This is a beautiful neighborhood full of beautiful people. We’ve only lived here for a few months but we’ve made great friends and are excited for what the next few years here bring us.

Someday I’ll learn more about the history of the neighborhood and teach you about it. Apparently it’s fascinating.

PS Isn’t the picture with that kid on the sidewalk the cutest? Go ahead, look again.

I will end with a quote that put me in check. Sher shared (I won’t say shared again after saying Sher) it one day and it has stuck with me.

“People may come to our communities because they want to serve the poor; they will only stay once they have discovered that they themselves are the poor.”

– Jean Vanier