My best friend Obi is my lap as I write this.
I just returned from spending a few days with my brother up in San Ramon, California for the Thanksgiving holiday. San Ramon is a city outside of San Francisco, and it is a six-hour drive from Los Angeles. Nonetheless, it is always nice to visit the Bay Area again.
I used to go there all the time, but since Kelly and I had Ethan, it has been difficult to take the trip. It’s a year since we last visited.
Bay Area Memories
Every time I go to the San Francisco area, it brings back great memories. When I lived in New York, I used to go there all the time. The first time I visited after college was really my first time out in California, and I instantly loved it more than New York City.
Every year I would go out to the Bay Area to hang out with my buddies John and Pete, who were studying at Berkeley and Stanford. When my good friend Tom moved out to Palo Alto that gave me more excuses to continue to go out there each year.
The Berkeley Dating Days
Later on, when I first met my wife Kelly, she was an optometry student at Berkeley, and I would take long trips to spend time with her.
By that time, I was fortunate enough to have started a stable network marketing business that allowed me to work anyway I wanted. As long as I had my laptop and the Internet, I could grow my home business from anywhere.
I still remember the eight-hour days spent at the Starbucks on Solano Street in Berkeley. I would spend the entire day making phone calls or working on my online marketing while Kelly was at class. It was a ton of fun, and the days would fly by so fast!
This Thanksgiving was the first time Ethan got to really play with his cousins because last year they were too small. That was the best part of the trip.
Jacob and Obi
But I think the happiest person out of the whole trip was my older nephew Jacob because he got to play with Obi!
Since he was young, Jacob has always loved Obi! When we would talk to him on Skype or on the phone, the first words out of Jacob’s mouth would always be, “Where’s Obi?”
Obi was super cute during this visit because he just got a great haircut. But then again, Obi’s haircut is $55, which is five times more than mine, so he better be cute!
Obi’s Birthday
Since 2008, Thanksgiving has been extra special because a few days after the holiday ends, it is Obi’s birthday!
Obi was born on Nov. 28, 2008, and since we had him before my son Ethan, I always consider Obi my “first son.” Even though we did not get Obi from the breeder until Jan. 30, 2009, I always remember Obi’s birthday. It is one of those magical days in my life.
There are only a few days where I can remember all the details about a specific day, and two of them are Obi’s birthday, and the day I got Obi delivered from the breeder.
Blessed
Since Obi joined our family, our lives have been eternally blessed. He brings so much happiness to me, and he is really my “first son.”
The ironic thing is that I never thought I would like a small dog. I’ve always wanted bigger dogs, but Kelly wanted a Bichon Frise ever since Obi’s breed won the Westminster Dog Show back in 2002.
I want to have big dogs, but we agreed that our first dog would be for Kelly and we would get a Bichon. Little did I know that I would come to love the Bichon so much that one of these days I hope to have five Bichons all at once!
Memories I Will Never Forget
What I love best about Obi is his personality and how he knows me so well.
He keeps me company everywhere I go, and he even lovingly tags along with me for my business dim sum lunch meetings each Wednesday. He just happily goes into his doggie bag because he wants to be close to me.
The interesting thing is that he would rather stay in this tiny bag for four hours and be next to me than have an entire huge house to roam by himself.
There have been tons of memories with Obi… from the day we took him for his first walk, to him graduating from Puppy Obedience Class, to graduating from Intermediate Obedience Class… to taking him on bike rides… to him just napping on my lap as I write this… to him lying next to me when I nap… to the four walks that we take together each day…
Bichon Frises are High Maintenance
Obi is lucky that I work at home, and he’s able to keep me company while I work.
Bichon Frises are SUPER SUPER HIGH MAINTENANCE, and they require tons of time commitment. If they don’t get the attention they need, they develop behavior and attitude problems.
Unfortunately a lot of Bichons end up in dog shelters because the owners buy them because they look so cute, never realizing how much time and money is required to take care of them.
So if you are going to get a Bichon Frise breed like Obi, please be warned that it will require tremendous amounts of time and money!
Who Is More Lucky?
Obi may be fortunate because he gets to hang out with his daddy all day at home because of his daddy’s network marketing business…
But I’m the REAL LUCKY ONE.
Obi has blessed me and makes me happy all the time. Life is full of challenges and problems, but Obi is always there to lick me, lie on my lap and comfort me. Just recently, when I was crying and writing about my post about my late grandma, Obi could sense the tears and just cuddled next to me and started to lick me to comfort me.
Obi has also taught me a lot of lessons that I never thought I’d learn from a “dog.”
Often when people ask me if I have a dog, I have to think before I answer “yes” because Obi is not a dog to me. Obi is neither a human… nor a dog… I just can’t describe it. He is my best friend who knows me so well and just happens to be a big fluffy fur ball.
So Obi will turn four years old this Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012.
Give Obi some love and wish him a Happy Birthday on his Facebook Fan Page! Let’s get Obi to 8,000 fans! 🙂
Sincerely,
Simon Chan
P.S. Many of you have contacted me and enjoy the lessons that I have included in my past blogs. If you are hungry and want to learn more tips on how to increase your productivity, improve your life and become more successful, I would like to invite you to become a member of Simon Chan Insider’s Circle. For a limited time Membership is FREE. Click Here to learn more.
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