My Fire Hydrant

[Updated July 17, 2010]

My first career was in opera as a Stage Manager. I think I was fairly successful — I always had a job. I was lucky to work for several wonderful regional opera companies: The Skylight Comic Opera (Milwaukee); The Virginia Opera; the Washington Opera (DC); Texas Opera Theater (part of Houston Grand Opera); Central City Opera; The Chautauqua Opera (NY); NYC Opera.

Sometimes I miss it. There is nothing more exciting than being in a rehearsal where you’re sitting up close and personal to the stage and you’re rehearsing something beautiful like “Tosca” and there are three or more world-class voices singing full out just for you. Your hearing is blown out just like if you were in the first row of a rock concert. I miss that.

But my second career has had its exciting moments too. I work for P&G Pet Care in Consumer Relations. We were The Iams Company before we were acquired by P&G in 1999. I never thought when I got my BA in Theatre that I would end up working for a conservative big-business!

I started in the phone center — talking to consumers, answering questions, taking care of complaints. Then for a while I focused on our consumer email — again answering questions and taking care of complaints. Now, my job has evolved to where I’m surfing the net looking for ways to help our consumers. Just what I’ve always done, and yet, so different.

Bev & Bailey

My second career has been deeply interwoven with my life as a pet parent. Bailey came to live with me just after I started with Iams/Eukanuba. She took part in every workday, and she has been a big part of my identity on the Internet. My sweet Bailey very gently went to her final rest on January 15, 2010. I still miss her, and at odd moments her memory will ambush me and I’ll find tears in my eyes. This can be a little embarrassing when I’m in a crowded room.

Tyler & Bev

I first met Tyler in a newsletter I get from Small Paws Rescue. He was found on the side of the road, 8-weeks old, starving and sick with parvo. Small Paws pulled him from the shelter, and placed him with a vet clinic where he could recover. As successive newsletters detailed his fight to live, he very stealthily moved into a corner of my heart, and through a series of coincidences I knew he was destined to be my little man.  On the way home from a business trip to San Francisco, I stopped off in Phoenix to invite him to come and live with me. Every day I am more charmed at the resilience of this little fluffy dog who got such a harsh start in life but who has become the heart of our home. I think Bailey must have nudged him my way.

My life is spent meeting the demands of my job, my family, and Tyler  – not necessarily in that order. I work for P&G Pet Care (AKA The Iams Company), which is a very good thing because I love dogs.

This is my fire hydrant. Please feel free to lift your leg and leave a message.