{"id":822,"date":"2016-01-13T00:00:46","date_gmt":"2016-01-13T04:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/efsavage.com\/blog\/?p=822"},"modified":"2016-01-05T23:12:05","modified_gmt":"2016-01-06T03:12:05","slug":"role-model","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/efsavage.com\/blog\/posts\/role-model\/","title":{"rendered":"Role Model"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When I was growing up, people often asked me who my &#8220;role model&#8221; was. \u00a0Saying &#8220;I don&#8217;t have one&#8221;\u00a0would lead to strange looks or awkward conversations, so I would typically say &#8220;Bill Gates&#8221; or &#8220;Wade Boggs&#8221; or some other easy answer. \u00a0Those\u00a0weren&#8217;t lies, I did admire certain facets of these people, but I certainly never emulated them. \u00a0A few years ago, decades\u00a0past the point where people ask me that question, I realized I finally have an answer.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve been lucky enough to have\u00a0several great\u00a0dogs in my life, all of whom have been very unique,\u00a0but Stella is,\u00a0unexpectedly, the closest thing I&#8217;ve ever had to a role model. I admire, and try to emulate,\u00a0how much she lives in the moment. \u00a0Her ability to grasp the excitement, or the mystery, or even just the simple peace of any given moment is amazing.\u00a0 Even at 6 years old, she takes every minute as a new adventure. \u00a0I am not, nor will I ever be\u00a0nearly as effusive as she is, but I do find myself noticing and appreciating the immediate moment even more.<\/p>\n<p>As I observe this furry creature living her life, I&#8217;ve collected a some\u00a0rules that she seems to live by, and that\u00a0perhaps we all should too:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If something bothers you, bark at it.<\/li>\n<li>If someone bothers you, leave them alone.<\/li>\n<li>There is no such thing as too many hugs.<\/li>\n<li>Do not eat when you you&#8217;re not hungry.<\/li>\n<li>Do not sleep where you don&#8217;t want to.<\/li>\n<li>Do not be alone\u00a0when you can cuddle.<\/li>\n<li>Do not care how ridiculous you look when you&#8217;re comfortable.<\/li>\n<li>You don&#8217;t have to be happy about it, but share your toys.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few years ago, decades past the point where people stopped asking me, I realized I finally have an answer to the question &#8220;who&#8217;s your role model?&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,187],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pets","category-thoughts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1AkJt-dg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/efsavage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/efsavage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/efsavage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efsavage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efsavage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/efsavage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":823,"href":"https:\/\/efsavage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822\/revisions\/823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/efsavage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efsavage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efsavage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efsavage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}