Bryson Tiller Saved My Life

I honestly was not a dog person. Like... I was seriously terrified of dogs growing up. I could sit here and detail my experiences, but that's neither here nor there. The point is, I went to college and thanks to the ridiculously cute pups they kept bringing on campus I became a changed woman. I went from crossing the street if I saw a dog approaching, to literally not being able to pass a dog without wanting to pet it at the VERY least.

Fast forward to my last year in college, and I had zero direction. I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, so I did what tons of us faux adults did... I moved back home with my mama! Which was, to be totally honest, depressing. I couldn't find a job I really liked (or that paid well), and I felt like such a loser in comparison to my friends and old classmates who were recieving job offers left and right. I kinda lost interest in doing anything.

Until one day, I was just laying in bed, scrolling through instagram, when I saw a post by one of my sorority sisters. She had rescued a puppy in Atlanta, but seeing as how she had two older dogs already with her in her apartment, she couldn't keep the new guy. I swiped through the pictures and felt my heart melting each time. I kid you not, it's the eyes that did it for me...

I fell in love. This little guy looked so forlorn and just SAD. I definitely could relate. I messaged my soror and asked her for more information- she said that she just found him wandering around the streets, starving. My heart literally broke. I asked her what his name was, and she said "Bryson, like Bryson Tiller". Without considering how my mom would feel, or really what I even knew about raising a dog (which was absolutely nothing), I asked her if I could come by and see him. We scheduled a time, and my boyfriend at that time agreed to come with me to see if maybe I could be this Bryson's new mama.

When my boyfriend and I met up with my soror, she took us into her spare bedroom where a little crate stood, covered with a blanket. We all sat on the floor and then she opened the crate door. Y'all I'm not kidding... Bryson crept out his crate, looked around the room, and then headed straight for me. He CHOSE me! He looked up at me with his soulful, Bryson Tiller eyes, and that little tail started to wag. And I felt myself falling in love again. I took Bryson home that night.

It was definitely a lot to learn about taking care of a puppy, especially a sick and somewhat starved stray, but after multiple visits to the vet and lots of loving care, Bryson thrived. And so did I. I had something to take care of, to be responsible for, and it pulled me out of my funk. One month after taking Bryson in, I actually landed my first real job! I'm not going to lie and say that life has been perfect since, but the way that Bryson healed an essential part of me (and literally continues to, to this day) is one of the things I'm the most grateful for. So as cliche as it is, I'm saying it anyways: It may have looked like I saved him, but he definitely saved me.