The Best Souvenir. Ever.

JuJu' s Facebook Pic

Camp Pendleton, the Marine Corps base in Oceanside, California, houses its animal shelter in a utilitarian gray building set in a compound of similar buildings. Barbed wire coils atop the fence, sequestering the shelter from the rest of the compound. One car sits stranded in the dirt and gravel parking lot. A group of good-looking, fit, young men, shirtless, due to the characteristic early autumn heat in Southern California, play basketball on a makeshift court across the street.

I arrived a half an hour before the staff leaves for the day. With no night shift hours at the shelter, it means the animals are alone, caged, at least 12 hours a day. I point this out not as an indictment of Camp Pendleton, but merely as an illustration. Homeless animals that make it to no-kill shelters are fortunate compared to those who don't. But it's still a pretty grim life.

JuJu and his BFF Hudson

The shelter was actually closed to the public on the day I visited. A few days earlier I'd spotted a flyer for the shelter with a photo of a dog that was described as a Lhasa Apso. I went online and read up on "Jun." According to his profile on Pet Finder, he was three years old, very friendly, but would need a home without cats. I wasn't yet ready to adopt a dog—I was going to wait until I moved back East to do so—but I kept thinking about that flyer, that adorable little face. I decided if "Jun" was, somehow, still available a month down the road, I'd take him, rename him "JuJu."

By the time I got off the phone with the marine volunteer who answered my call despite the fact the shelter was closed that day, I had an appointment an hour later to meet JuJu. I brought him back to my friend Mary Ann's, where I've been blessed to have spent the past two months. When I leave for Scranton, driving across the country just as winter descends on the Rockies, Midwest and Northeast, JuJu will be riding shotgun.

Poster Boy

My arrival in Scranton will signal the end of 10 months of travel: India, Bali, California. I didn't buy much except for necessities during these past 10 months. Now that JuJu has been in my life for a mere one month, I can firmly say that he fits that criteria. I don't know how I could possibly live without him.