President's Message

"In life, it’s not where you go, it’s who you travel with." --- Charles Schultz
During vet school, someone once gave me a wise piece of advice to go ahead and make plans for the future but be sure to write them in pencil. I had no idea at the time how often I would come back to those words. I was a young professional and had my entire life and career ahead of me. I thought I had it all figured out as we often do in our twenties. This probably won’t surprise you but the eraser on my “Life Plan” pencil is long worn down and gone now. At this point, I just scribble
things out when needed and draw an arrow to wherever the next thing will fit on the page. It’s quite similar to what Dr. Hayne’s lecture notes used to look like during our pathology courses in vet school. 😊 (Shout out to Dr. Haynes for not only being an incredible instructor but also a talented runner and someone I truly admire!) The detours on my road of life have been plentiful and there have been numerous times when I wasn’t quite sure what was around the next bend.

But despite the many winding roads, I have had some constant travel companions throughout my journey. And those are the many animals I have been lucky enough to share it with. The daughter of two animal lovers, I grew up on a small hobby farm surrounded by everything from pygmy goats to hedgehogs. The apple didn’t fall from the tree as I continue to share my life with a menagerie of furry, fibered, feathered, and buzzing critters to this day. But of all the loyal animal companions I’ve known, it’s my dogs that have stood out among the rest.

Dogs have a way of finding the people who need them. And that has certainly been the case for me. Each one has brought their own unique personality, quirks, and life lessons along the way. For example, there was Buster “Butters” Brown, my heart dog, a basset hound who came down with Addison’s disease while I was in vet school. He could clear a room with his flatulence, but he was my devoted study buddy to the end and a friend to everyone he met. And then there was Edgar Wendell, a shy 14-year-old mutt who came from a hoarding situation. His neurologic disease gave him the most unique gait and he often pranced around like a Tennessee Walking Horse. It took me six months to earn his trust, but we eventually became best buds and truly made the most of his golden years. And most recently, my son Thomas and I were found by a 10 lb. heartworm-positive, dapple chiweenie named Fernando. While he looks more like a miniature trash panda than a dog and is heavily outweighed by our giant house cat, his sweet and zesty, bigger-than-life personality has been exactly what our family needed over this past year.

And that brings me to my final travel story of my IVMA Presidency, which turned out to be right in my own backyard. I was perusing my social media feed one afternoon when I came across the heartwarming story of Abe Switters and his 18-year-old blind and deaf rescue dog, Nanna, on MPR News. Nanna “found” Abe in 2021 while he was working at the Nashville Humane Society. Abe and Nanna quickly bonded and despite her being initially viewed as a hospice case, he was determined to make the most of the time she had left. Abe took Nanna in as a foster but eventually adopted her as a permanent member of his family, joining his other beloved rescue dogs PJ and Mrs. Puckett. There have been plenty of bumps in the road, including the enucleation of both of Nanna’s eyes six months ago. But thanks to Abe, this golden girl, who in 2021 was said to have only months left to live, now has a new lease on life. It turns out that Nanna is quite the mover and shaker. She and Abe first started with a snail’s pace walk around the block which eventually became her first mile. Fast forward to a few months ago when Nanna ran a full 10K to celebrate her 18^th birthday! Nanna shows no signs of slowing down and is a true testament that a little bit of love and kindness can go a long way.

Abe and his pups recently moved from Nashville to St. Paul. So after I finished drying my eyes from reading the MPR article, I reached out to Abe and a few weeks later, Thomas and I made the drive to St. Paul and had the chance to meet Abe and the incredible Nanna in person. Abe and Nanna have now started a new adventure of walking every bridge in the Twin Cities area. This incidentally began when they were on a walk and crossed the bridge near Minnehaha Falls. As the wind touched Nanna’s face, she stopped dead in her tracks and was totally captivated. Abe said he had never seen her so still and at peace. So he went home and started mapping out area bridges to visit and they’ve already checked nearly ten of them off their list. Along the way, Nanna has garnered quite the social media following and together, she and Abe are inspiring thousands of people with their story. Me included.

As Abe and Nanna’s story illustrates, traveling to grand destinations is inspiring, but it’s actually those everyday moments that make the journey of life so incredible. And who we share that journey with, animal or human, truly makes all the difference.

It has been my sincere honor to serve as your IVMA President this past year. I hope my travel and life anecdotes have inspired you a bit or at the very least brightened your day. Thank you for this opportunity and for being such an important part of my life’s road map. The future is so bright for this organization and I look forward to the path ahead, detours and all. Farewell for now and I hope to see you at the IVMA Annual Meeting in Ames on September 26-27!

Sincerely,
Kristen Clark
Kristen.Clark@state.mn.us