Tales Behind the Tail | How My Dog Saved My Life

She may not be human, but she is my child, and she’s the reason for me to keep pushing through life.

The day my dog came into my life

Everyone seemed to scan the room with their eyes trying to catch hints from each other; hints that I hadn’t been picking up. I knew there was something strange when I received the last gift that Christmas. I remember the moment that I opened my first Bark Box for Okami. I was so confused until I saw this tiny, furry potato of a dog run out into the circle of wrapping paper. My husband gifted me Okami on Christmas 2016. I didn’t get to spend too much time with her after I got her because of my housing situation, school, and work, so I was very scared that she wouldn’t know who I was when we were reunited. I was wrong about that though - I’ve had Okami since April 2018, and we have been inseparable since.

When Okami was younger, she was very standoffish. She wasn’t very keen on human or animal interaction. She was more catlike than she was dog. It made sense to me, because our Okami girl is very independent. She likes that you are present in the room, but that doesn’t meant she needs you to shower her with love. At least, that’s how it used to be. Now Okami girl gets jealous when Sean and I are playing video games, or if he is getting more attention from me than she is. She loves to cuddle with us in bed, and she enjoys being pet at all times of the day. Since we’ve been together more frequently, we have all grown very close and we thank her for that.

My dog is my hero

My dog springs to my side when she feels that I am in distress, pain, or danger. I have noticed that she is more aware of how I am feeling than my husband is. She is by my side when I am sick - so much as walking me to the bathroom when I’m not feeling well. Lately, I have been going through an emotional and mental battle with myself, and she knows that more than anyone. She helps me in ways even the best psychiatrists and mental health specialists could. She doesn’t attack me with questions of '“why?” She just sits there and gives me her unconditional love, and that’s just what I need in that moment. There’s so many things my dog has helped me through, the world can’t even imagine.

“A dog is the only thing on the Earth that loves you more than themselves.”

The way that she looks at me with concern when I’m having an emotional break down. Her eyes get wide, and her ears fall back, and she nudges her cold little nose against my cheeks. She licks my tears off my cheeks until I laugh at her. Once she gets me to laugh, she snuggles her head into my arms and lays down next to me. She knows the power she has over my heart, and she isn’t ashamed to be close anymore. She’s saved my life when I had strong thoughts of suicide running through my head. It was always a scary place until she came along.

This is why I wanted to go with the name Okami & Co. She is the center pillar of our family, and we love her very much. So we hope you decide to stay connected and see how our family continues to grow!

Pinterest: @okamiandco
Twitter: @okamiandco
Instagram: @stayaloha

Let Me Introduce Myself | The Momma

A new journey awaits us, and it’s not going to be like the others.

A lion sleeps in the heart of every brave woman

Hi there! My name is Jaclyn, and I’m the momma of this little family. I find it really hard to write this blog only because I feel like I’ve introduced myself to you multiple times. Even though that may be the case, I want you to get to know a little more about me. First off, I am a twenty-something year old Filipina living overseas. I do your typical Filipina career, you guessed it! I am a Registered Nurse. The only kick I get out of my career to differentiate myself from my counterparts is I’m one of the (still many) Filipina Nurses in the U.S. Army. I’ve lived 18 years of my life outside of the United States because of my parents, and it’s shaped me into the person I am now.

I’ve been in the Army for almost three years, and I’ve been practicing nursing for almost 5 years (to include student capstones, volunteering, etc). I still haven’t found my niche in the nursing world yet, but I am mostly interested in learning about the neonatal/pediatric population. Working with children already scares people to the bones, but working with sick children? It’s like a someone’s worst nightmare. It takes a special kind of nurse to work with critically ill children, and I think that I’ve got what it takes. Only because I believe that children are much more resilient than adults are, and that may be because of their imaginations. The world hasn’t tainted their hearts with the kind of fear that destroys hope.

Values are what make up a person’s characteristics

I’ve always held four values near my heart: Guide, Love, Heal, Protect. My mom gifted me my very own Pandora bracelet that had charms symbolizing all of those values, and it’s probably the greatest thing in the world.

Guide

Guide for me has mostly been to guide my younger brother to make the right decisions in life. Every mistake that I’ve made, and I’ve made plenty, I just hope he doesn’t have to make them. I want him to learn from my mistakes, and not have to struggle the way that I did growing up. I try to guide my junior Soldiers to progress through their careers and be the best that they can be. I want them to understand that they’re a part of a team, and when it comes down to it, the only people they’ll have are those to the left and right of them. I guide my patients to make healthier decisions to improve their quality of life, and to try and get better. We don’t realize how often we guide people on a day to day basis, so make sure you’re giving advice you would take yourself.

Heal

As a nurse, I think this is pretty self-explanatory that I feel a deep need to help heal those in need. But this is holistic healing. Suffering from mental illness myself, I find that behavioral and mental health gets overlooked. I’ve come from a past where I’ve had two very close people had committed suicide because they showed no signs, and spoke to no one about it. I want to take away the stigma of mental illness so those who really need help, won’t be afraid to reach out for it. If you or someone you know needs help, please get them the proper help that they need, listen to them, or help them find someone they trust.

Love

My love consists of my love for my family, friends, and anyone that I help heal. I’ll hit them with that agape love, you know what I mean? Agape love is self-less love, and is thought to be the highest form of love. My love for my family and friends runs deep. My family has overcome turmoil and disaster time and time again. At one point, it seemed like there was no hope escaping the darkness. But our love for each other lit the way for us to rekindle our spirits. My love for my own little family now is something that’s unbreakable. We have already gone through so much in our few years together, but our love has truly overcome all.

Protect

When I was younger, my sole purpose in life was to protect the one brother I had left, Joey. After we had lost our older brother to heart break, Joey’s heart was something that I saw as completely fragile. Now that he’s all grown up, I think I can let him take care of himself. Now my focus is on protecting myself and my family. There have been many things that have come and tried to break the bonds between me and my little family, but they will not succeed. The love that I have for Sean, that’s something that can never be erased, and I will protect his heart as much as he protects mine. Just like how we want to protect those with fragile hearts in the world. We want you to know, you are never alone when you’re a part of our family. We will always do our best to make time to listen.

Hobbies that take up my time

Athens, clocking in at 5:25:25 for my first full marathon

Being a gym rat all day, every day

When I’m not working as a nurse, you can find me in the gym lifting weights. About a year ago, I would call myself a hardcore, dedicated runner. I trained for a bunch of races to include Athens Original Marathon, Disney Paris Half, and the Mont Saint Michel Half. I kept telling Sean that I didn’t like weight lifting, and honestly it’s because I was intimidated by everyone in the gym. When I started to get foot pain, I couldn’t run as far anymore, so I started to lift weights. Now, running the dreaded 2-mile test for the Army is difficult for me to even think of. But now that I’ve gotten surgery on my foot, I’m hoping after my recovery, I can get back to some cardio work. It’s not easy to be a couch potato for this long.

I’m working on becoming a health coach, so I’ve started my short journey with a girl I met in college, Victoria. I joined a Beachbody group, and I’m really hoping that this gives me the short amount of cardio that I need to get my ticker back into shape before I head back to the states. I want to become a health coach because I like the idea of holistic healing in nursing. When you get to us in the hospital, we cure whatever it is you are diagnosed with. I want to help keep you out of the hospital though. That’s why I think it’s important that people take their health seriously!

Capturing the moment through photography

Photography has always been something that I’ve been interested in. Ever since I got my first Panasonic point and shoot camera when I was younger. My husband has helped me upgrade to a Nikon DSLR camera, equipped with different lenses and flashes to make sure we get the right shot. I’m still learning, and he’s been the most helpful teacher. He encourages me to take photos because he tells me I have a “good eye” for things, and I’m hoping he’s right. All of the photos in our gallery are taken by us, and edited by myself, so you should check that out here! Follow me on Instagram (@stayaloha) if you want to stay more up-to-date on my photos.

Enough about me

I hope you stay tuned with us. We’ve got high hopes for Okami & Co to grow and make new family and friends from around the world!

Love, Jaclyn & Co.

Claim your Fur Mom title!

  Having a four-legged pal is probably one of the best things that you could ever be blessed with. Almost everyone that I know has owned a family dog because their parents bought it for them when they were kids. Now that I am the adult in my house, I am fully responsible for everything that my dog does. At least when you were a kid, all you had to deal with was the fun stuff, like taking the dog out, playing with the dog, feeding the dog, bathing the dog, etc. Since it's only me and my furry girl, I am in charge of her appointments, her documents, buying all of her things, making sure she's well socialized so she doesn't go crazy talking to me all day.

  I know what you're thinking, "this girl is crazy, having a dog is nothing like having a kid." Well, I can't even tell you how to compare the two, because I don't have a kid to compare my dog to. I've taken care of a lot of newborn babies, infants, and toddlers. I know that it's extremely challenging. Being a nanny all throughout college, I know that raising kids is a whole different level of parenting. So maybe it's not like having a human child. I didn't have to push it out of me and go through all the pain of the "beginnings of Motherhood", but there is still a lot of responsibility when owning a furry companion. And if you don't believe me, look at your dog right now and tell me that you don't consider that love pup a big part of your family. (And if you said no, then you sit on a throne of lies.)

Okami going through a mood on her birthday

  Just kidding, not really. Anywho, I brought my dog over from the states and she's finally settling into becoming a European doge. She's not a fan of the busy streets. She's not a fan of the barking dogs around our neighborhood. She's not really a fan of being left alone when I go to work for 13 hours at night. We've both had to make some adjustments. She's tried to run away twice, once from the house and once from the dog park. She didn't eat her first week here, but she's starting to gain her appetite back. And her times for her actual sleep schedule (not her morning, afternoon, and evening naps) were all screwed up.

  Luckily, being on night shift allows me to be with her throughout the day when I'm not terrified to walk in the forest to tucker her out with a 5-mile walk. The only downside to that is that I am sacrificing all of my sleep to tend to my Shiba-baby. No, I know, it's still "not as bad" as having a human child so you can hush now, thanks.

  When my dog has a bad day, I know it because she doesn't listen to me. She gets stubborn, she rebels (ie. runs away very quickly without any regards to moving vehicles.) She'll cry literally all day. And if you've ever heard the yelp of a Shiba, then you might as well think it's a dying child, because it's God awful. She'll get sick. She gets hurt. She needs attention, love, and care just like a child would. But no, she's still not a child, and I get that.

Happy baby Okami

  But I love my dog. I love her like I love babies. And I'm sure when the day comes that I have my own human child, then I'll see what this "big difference" is in Motherhood.  But since that's not an option for me right now, I'm going to keep posting my fur-child photos in her cute little t-shirts, mini doge backpack, and yellow rain jacket. I'm going to complain about my lack of sleep, and all of the messes she makes in the house (which isn't a lot, but this fur, my God... let me tell you my new found relationship with my duster...) I'll always find it hard to leave home without her, and I'm terrified when I place her in the care of others. She's my baby. And if anyone has the balls to tell me that my dog isn't important enough because she isn't a human, then seriously, fuck off. I don't think I've cussed too much on my blog or on my social media posts, but really, fuck off mate. Delete me, do it, cause I don't need that negativity in my life, lol. BYEEEE.

Why Giving Yourself a Pep Talk in the Mirror Every Morning is Helpful

“You’re going to do great things, even if they’re small, they’ll add up to something phenomenal. You’re beautiful in every way. Be kind to others because that’s how you show your heart. You’ve got it. You’re worth it!”

Have you ever heard the phrase “kill them with kindness”? We’re taught to be kind and to respect other people, so why should it be any different talking to yourself with kindness? At a young age, people will start critiquing you and though they may not mean to, they kind of make you hard on yourself. They can make you feel like you aren’t worthy of admiration because you could be doing something better, or you could look differently. The biggest one I’ve struggled with is my body image. From such a young age, my family would comment on how small my butt was, how I was either too fat or too skinny, the acne on my face, etc. In turn, it made me feel like I wasn’t ever going to be good enough and I wasn’t worthy of being called beautiful.

This kind of talk can be countered though. We are so hard on ourselves nowadays, especially as adults. We’re at a time in our life where finding someone to settle down with is key in making the world go round, right? So if you aren’t comfortable and confident about your own skin, how can we shine our lights to everyone else?

Every morning I give myself a pep talk in my head, and sometimes I’ll do it aloud if I really need the motivation. I compliment myself on 3 things: physical, mental, and emotional. I tell myself that I look beautiful today, and say something like, “your hair looks great today!” or “hey your blemishes cleared up!” for my physical aspect. I tell myself that I am intelligent, and say something like, “you’re going to do great at work today!” or “you will get this project done today because you work hard!” And lastly, I tell myself that I am strong, and compliment myself on how I’ve held myself together through it all, and how having these diagnoses aren’t life ending. “You are strong, you are resilient.”

Being a hard critic on yourself can be good for growth, but it doesn’t always have to be that way. You have to give yourself some good lovin’ too. There’s no doubt in my mind that your day will be better off after giving yourself a great pep talk. Trust me.

Love, Jaclyn & Co.

Let Me Introduce Myself | The Poppa

You’re not a potato, you’re a babycake!

Hi, my name is Sean and I’m the daddy of the family.   I’m a graduate of Washington State University (the same university my wife went to, different time though!) and currently living in South Korea.  I’ve spent most of my life in Washington state, but I also lived outside of the United States for about 13 years of my life.  A majority of that time was spent in Germany, which is where I was born.  It was also my wife’s first duty station.  It was nice since we were able to travel often and experience all the food around Europe!

I’ve been in the Army for over 6 years now.  I initially enlisted to fly Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, (UAVs) which is what I did for the first 5 years of my career.  I was lucky enough to get Airborne in my contract, and it is something I really miss doing.  In the short 4 years that I was Airborne, I had 35 jumps out of various aircrafts to include Blackhawks, Chinooks, C-130s, C-17s, and Twin Otters.   Currently I’m serving as a Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Warrant on a much larger platform than my previous one

Values

My wife believes that a person’s value makes their character.  So, what do I value?

Respect, family, and food

New York City, New York

Respect

Growing up, I’d say that my father is someone who I looked up to.  If you were to first see my dad, you’d probably think that he’s not the nicest person in the world.  Unknowing to many, my dad is one of the most respectful and generous people I have ever known.  He never spoke ill of anyone, helped anyone that needed it, and was always generous to those less fortunate.  I know I’m considered a grown-up, but we truly never grow-up.  But when I grow up, I want to be just like my dad.

Family

When I say I have a big family, I mean I have a big family.  So big that I haven’t met all of my cousins.  Half cousins? Both my grandparents are divorced.  Both had 8 or 9 kid.  Let’s just say I have a lot of cousins.  We come from all over the world.  A majority of us are actually in or were in the military.  Being in such a big family and growing up with everyone so close to one another teaches you a lot of things.  Everyone is different, everyone has their problems, and no matter what, your family will always be there for you.  I want a big family (not entirely sure if my wife would like to birth all of them), and I want them to grow close with their extended family.  I want them to be close with each other, and I want them to know that their parents will always love and support them.

Food

You can value food, right?  I love food. When we travel, we tend to plan a lot of our trips around restaurants.  Just recently on our trip to the Philippines, we made a reservation at the nicest, most highly reviewed restaurant in Makati City.  What I love about it is that we never look like we belong.  We’re always looked at like we’re too young to be there, or that we don’t know what we’re doing.  We always go for the full course with wine pairing and pretend to be food critics.  We taste the wine, savor the food, and describe each and every flavor or scent we taste or smell.  But in the end, it’s really just us having a good time together.  It’s one of my favorite things to do with my wife and I really love that she loves food just as much as I do.

Hobbies

Snowboarding

I’m no expert, but I’ve been doing it for some time now.  The first time I went was in high school and I decided to invest in my own equipment once I got into college.  When we lived in Washington, before life got busy, I went every weekend I possibly could during the season. The first time I took my wife though, she wasn’t the happiest lol.  But I’m a good teacher!  Taught her the basics.  The last few times she went, I was sick or deployed so we weren’t’ able to go together.  But just recently we were able to go here in Korea and she was so eager to show me how good she got.  To my surprise, she was able to keep up!  We were like 2 drifters riding tandem. It was great.  I can’t wait to go again, hopefully at a place that has a lot of fresh pow!

Photography

A photo I took of my wife in Seoul

I’ve always enjoyed photography, even as a kid.  It wasn’t until I was in college that I invested in my first DSLR.  Towards the end of college, I got an SLR to learn all the basics and focused mostly on black and white photography.  The dark room was probably my favorite part but I moved back to my DSLR. 

I’m very thankful that my wife loves photography as much as I do.  It’s so nice having someone to photograph and someone that has a different eye than what I have.  Take a look at our gallery and let us know what you think!  We’re always open to new ideas and we’re open to any helpful critiques

I hope you enjoy our blog!  If you have any questions, feel free to contact us!