His Name Is Zeppelin

It was August 2015, a full year before my awakening. I was on struggle street. Completely stuck in suffering. Every day was a battle, unhappy at work, unhappy in a relationship (though that was probably more my fault than hers) and caught up in the usual fast-lane nonsense young guys in their early 20s do.

I was lost. My heart was closed. But something was about to change.

I had this idea that I wanted a border collie. My ex’s family had one, and she was cheeky, funny, full of life. She slept on her back in the weirdest positions something I later found out was a classic border collie trait. I fell in love with that dog, and decided I wanted one of my own.

I had a black and white female in mind. I searched on and off for a month, but nothing felt right. Eventually, my ex found a breeder in Geelong. One evening, we made the three-hour drive.

We arrived at a farm that didn’t feel quite right. Looking back, I think it may have been a puppy farm. But we went in and saw two little fluffballs playing with each other. No black-and-white ones in sight.

My ex bent down and picked one up. As soon as she did, he fell asleep in her arms.

“This is the one,” I thought.

I asked the breeder how much he was.

“$800,” he said.

I was shocked I had exactly $800 cash in my pocket. Not a dollar more, not a dollar less.

He handed over the papers and said the pups were brothers from Wangaratta. His mate had bred them and they’d done a swap for variety. Fair enough.

We drove home but had to stop midway the little guy was crying in the back seat. She calmed him down, and we continued.

When we got home, we surprised my family. He wandered around the living room sniffing curiously. My mum looked at me and asked:

“What’s his name?”

“His name is Zeppelin.”

And that was it.

The beginning of something new.

The start of my heart slowly opening even as the next twelve months turned out to be some of the hardest I’ve ever lived through.

But through it all, I had a sidekick.

One who showed me unconditional love.