Like many of you, I met Tam through my animals. In fact, my

husband, Michael met her first.  He came back from Suburban and

said, “ I met this great vet today.  Oh, yeah, and she is an Auburn

grad.”

I thought to myself, “hmmm, Auburn, well at least it isn’t Florida.”

The next time I took Crockett in for his anal glands, that is when I

knew we would be friends.  His rear end was all enflamed, and she

gave me this spray to put on it.  She said, “I love this stuff!! I use it

all the time!”  My response was, “ooooohhhh, I’m getting a very

uncomfortable visual!”  We both laughed, sprayed Crockett’s rear

end with “foo foo” and there began our friendship.

In fact, our friendship has largely centered around our love for

SEC football, and anal glands.  I swear I have the worst dogs on

the face of the earth, and other vets would have long abandoned

me…but not Tammy.  She has put up with the bad ears, bad behavior, skin infections…including mange, pancreatitis, carcass

eating, sock eating, seizures, amputations, impacted anal glands, and even poop eating, with a smile and a “Well let’s see what we can do.” 

As far as the football connection, Tennessee doesn’t get to play

Auburn as much as they used to, a fact that we in the Volunteer

Nation appreciate. However, when we did play, it was always Tam on the other end of the line saying, “Are we still friends?”  See, we both take our football pretty seriously.

I know that we all have common but individual connections to

Tam.  I met her when she worked at Suburban and had Erica,

Savannah, Louie, Bianca, Rhett, and Sebastian as well as an

assortment of orange kitties.  Those orange kitties always seemed

to find her including Leo.  Where Tam went, most times the dogs

went too. I will never forget when she would go to Publix to get

her groceries.  The bagger would open up the car door to put the

bags in and all these little (and big) faces would pop out. She also

had baby raccoons named Boone the Raccoon and George Cooney,

which she eventually released somewhere in Talking Rock, where

she used to live. My son Landon, always thought that she lived on

Rocky Top, and when he would say that, she would always smile.

I always told Tam that I knew why God put her into my life.  She

has kept my worthless and stinky but very much loved dogs alive

for many more years than they would have had without her.  My dogs have gone through more than their fair share of “Foo Foo”

spray after having their stinky bottoms worked on. She also helped

my cats, Kitty Witty and Mowgli, die with dignity. So it was

obvious why God had placed Tam in my life, but the question

remained, “Why am I in her life?”

Well, I guess this is why.  God knew that some day Tam would

come across something that she just couldn’t fix… and she could

fix just about anything.  For once, instead of me needing her, she needed me. For all of us who have known Tam for any amount of

time, you know that she would do anything for you, but never

asked for anything in return.  In fact, she sometimes made it hard

on us, because she rarely let you know when things weren’t going

well in her life.  Her life could be feeling like it was coming down

around her, but she would never let on that anything was wrong.

Every so often, she might have what she called, “a little pity

party,” but that only lasted for a few minutes.  After that, it was

back to business as usual.  I guess this is what makes her passing

even more difficult.  Of everyone I know, Tam is the one person

who lived EVERY day… not just the ones when she felt 100%.  If

anyone could beat cancer, it was her.

We all prayed for a cure…for a miracle.  At times we questioned

why our prayers weren’t being answered.  However, in some ways, I have to believe that they were, just not in the way we expected.

 What if the miracle was “Time.”  Time to just sit together and

laugh and cry, sneak Jeb on the bed (sorry David), and be there for

each other.  Until Tammy became ill, in order to talk to her or see

her I had to have a sick dog, which for me, was quite often, or try

and coordinate conversations between her different jobs.  For the

first time in our friendship, I really believe that I got to show her

how much she meant to me.  I wouldn’t trade the time we had together for anything in the world now.  For me, I believe that

“Time” was my miracle.

I will miss seeing the cutest, smartest, and funniest vet on the face

of the earth.  I will miss the “click-click” or her heals on the other

side of the examination room door. I mean, who knows another vet

that comes to work wearing her cute little mini skirt and high-

heal boots?  I will also really miss her smile.  I love the way

she smiled, with that one tooth overlapping just a bit, and how her

nose crinkled when she giggled.

Tammy taught me that life is filled with the good and the bad. That

in life you have to do  both the things you love, and also commit

yourself to doing the things that might not be much fun. If you are

lucky, you find a balance, but it is important not to take a day for

granted. She taught me that life is about family, friends, SEC

football, pets, pets, and sometimes, even more pets.  And yes,

sometimes life is about anal glands.  But she also taught me was

that there is nothing in life that a little “Foo-Foo Spray” can’t make better.