The temperature was just a bit cooler than the surface of the sun as we walked through the grounds of the Orange County Fair and Event Center.  The America’s Family Pet Expo was in town and the sound of barking pups filled the hot summery air.  Summer is visiting Southern California early this year.  It’s Sunday, the 13^th of April and the temperature hovers just below 90 degrees. 

The image of the buildings off in the distance is distorted by the heat rising from the blacktop surface covering much of the fairgrounds.  The howling of the pups in their cages is occasionally interrupted by the roar of air traffic from the nearby airport.

My daughters Sarah, Meghan and myself are dog lovers and there were plenty of dogs to love at the pet expo.  We knelt down and hugged St. Bernards and Chihuahuas, German Shepherds and Rat Terriers, Pit Bulls and Shar-peis.  I snapped the photo of Sarah that you see here as she played with a particularly adorable puppy.

There are more specialized rescue organizations than I ever imagined existed.  Groups of caring people have gathered together for the purpose of finding homes for Beagles, Yorkshire Terriers, Shih Tzu’s, Poodles, Bulldogs, Dachshunds,  Boxers, Setters, Retrievers, Rottwielers, Doberman Pinschers and just about every breed of dog you can imagine.

We strolled through aisles of brightly colored booths filled with vendors hawking collars, leashes, dog beds, dog houses, dog training, dog vitamins and some of the cutest doggie clothing I have every seen.  We had come to the pet expo with the expectation of expanding our product line and meeting some business contacts to discuss collaborative linking of our websites.  The business objectives seem to take on a secondary importance when confronted with hundreds of wagging tails, wet noses and trusting eyes.

I came to the expo for commerce and found a renewed gratitude for the wonderful things in my life.  I am one of those people in life who is fortunate enough to be able to do what I love to do and what I love to do is to hang out with dogs.  Well, I also love building websites and offering business consultations to clients, but my favorite clients are pups. 

Attending the America’s Family Pet Expo with my daughters with the primary objective of making business contacts was a wonderfully fulfilling experience on a number of levels.  There is an exhilaration that comes with the process of building a business with one’s family.  The process is all the better considering that we are building a business that we love.  I love my family and I love my puppies.

I feel so very fortunate to be who I am, to be doing what I do and to blessed to be doing it with the people who I love the most and the animals that I cherish.  Life is good and very good!

Paulette Jones