Merry's trip to Denver to visit Dr. Fitzgerald at Alameda East Veterinary Hospital (Featured on Animal Planet's Emergency Vets)
Well, here I was at last, standing underneath the Alameda East Veterinary Hospital sign and shivering in my inadequate little blue winter coat. This sounds terribly corny, but the theme music from The Emergency Vets television show was running through my head!
It was late November and my husband Ed and I had just flown into Denver from Clearwater, Florida to deliver the 150 plus name badges I’d made for the entire Alameda East staff. This was the last leg in a Magic Zoo journey that started about 5 years ago.
It began in my sister’s living room in Rhode Island. Holly and I were watching an episode of Animal Planet’s Emergency Vets, her favorite t.v. show. She turned to me and said “Wouldn’t it be great if you could make name badges for their staff?” I thought that was a fantastic idea. But was at a total loss on how to pull it off.
Two years later I was sipping on a cup of tea in my booth at a veterinary conference in Columbus, Ohio, when a very familiar looking, tall gentleman stepped into my booth. His arms were stacked with slides from the presentation he’d just given, and he was checking out my iguana jewelry! I whispered unnecessarily to my husband “Isn’t that Dr. Fitzgerald from Emergency Vets?!” I introduced myself and asked if he could write a quick note to my sister (the big fan) which he very graciously did. He also complemented my work, accepted a business card and wandered off to check out the surgery books across the aisle. My slightly star struck buzz eventually faded and I shifted into the “I can’t believe I didn’t mention that I make name badges!” mode.
A week or so later I was back in my Florida studio busily creating a customized name badge with an iguana for Dr. Fitzgerald. I sent it off to the Alameda East address I’d found online and kept my fingers crossed. I was pretty sure he’d like it (I do have great confidence in my work) but would he actually wear it? Would he write me off as some overzealous fan and just return it? Nothing like a little suspense! A few weeks later I had a phone call from none other than Dr. Fitzgerald himself. Not only did he love his name badge and wear it everyday- but he also ordered badges for Dr. Knor, Dr. Stubbs, Dr. Taylor, Dr. Hafer and Rebecca Vera.
In the next couple of years, I bumped into Dr. Fitzgerald occasionally at veterinary conferences around the country. He remained a friend and supporter of the Magic Zoo- and even wrote an endorsement for my name badges.
Recently, I’d come up with the idea of flying to Denver and visiting Alameda East. I thought it would be great to meet the staff and get some photographs of life at the clinic. I ran into Dr. Fitzgerald in October of 2005 and talked to him about my plan. He thought that sounded fine, and we settled on a date in late November. I also planned on bringing the name badges I was making for the entire staff to deliver in person.
 Merry in the waiting area |
Back in Denver, Ed and I stepped from the bitterly cold mountain afternoon into Alameda East’s welcoming (and warm) waiting area. I was struck by the beauty of this spacious clinic with its gorgeous maple furnishings and clever colorful posters everywhere. I’m very sensitive to the aesthetics of spaces- and this one definitely created a feeling of comfort and peace. I noticed that my own residual nervousness at finally arriving had melted away.
A young man named Kevin greeted us at the front desk and told us that Dr. Fitzgerald was out on an errand and would return in about an hour, just enough time for Ed and I to grab some lunch.
When we returned close to 2:00, a smiling Dr. Fitzgerald (wearing his iguana name badge, of course!) met us at the front desk. He had us pile our coats and gear behind the counter and took us off on a tour of the clinic.
