In 1959, Dinah Washington stepped up to a microphone and recorded “What a Diff’rence a Day Makes,” a song about how twenty-four little hours can turn everything around. The sun where there used to be rain. It won her a Grammy and became the song of her career, and the reason it still gets played today is simple: everybody knows the feeling. One day, one moment, one unexpected turn, and your whole story changes.
I’d like to borrow the idea and bend it a little. Because in our family, it wasn’t a day that made the difference.
It was a dog.
Everyone has a story about a dog that touched their life and changed it forever. Ask around and you’ll hear them: the childhood dog, the rescue that rescued them right back, the old friend they still can’t talk about without a catch in their voice. My own story runs through three or four dogs before it gets to the one this post is really about, so bear with me.
Our Story First
After our beloved family dog passed at seventeen, we tried to do the right thing. Our son is allergic to just about everything, dogs included, so we went looking for a hypoallergenic breed. Goldendoodles were in vogue at the time, and since we were already used to a larger dog, a goldendoodle seemed like the right answer.
We opened our hearts and took him in, the way you take in any family member. And when a dog is family, you love them no matter what. Even when they bite you.
For us, that biting caused pain that was both physical and emotional. We wanted a dog we could love and cuddle, play with, and raise our children alongside. That wasn’t in the cards. Instead there was trainer after trainer, baby gates, crates, and closed doors. It broke our hearts a little every day. After seven and a half years, that dog passed from cancer, and we were heartbroken all over again, in a complicated way this time.
Our children had known an amazingly loving, easygoing dog in their early childhood, and the opposite in their middle childhood. Now, it was time to heal.
Enter two sweet as pie golden retrievers. Of course we picked golden retrievers. Goldens are the epitome of the friendly, eager to please, easygoing, totally-in-love-with-you, dedicated family dog, and that is exactly what we got. Ranger and Gracie healed our hearts and taught our whole family to know the love of a dog again. They changed everything.
That’s our story. I’m sure you have one too. But this post is about someone else’s story.
The Dog That Started It
It begins with a dog, but not one of those dogs.
At ten and a half, Ranger, the most warm-hearted, goofiest, most gigantic golden retriever on the planet, developed cancer. It was a slow, awful decline, and losing him was crushing. After he passed, his sister Gracie was lonely. She was grieving. She was sad. Dogs feel these things too.
It took some time, but eventually we researched breeders and found a local one. She was kind, educated, and had beautiful dogs. We got on her waitlist, and soon enough a new puppy entered our lives. We named her Meadow.
The first time our family met Meadow, she was six weeks old. The breeder let us meet a couple of puppies to see which one felt like the right match. She had her daughter with her that day, helping to make sure that things went smoothly. Her daughter was young, bright, and endlessly enthusiastic, the kind of kid who makes an impression. The two of them were incredibly patient while we played with the puppies and made our choice. Not long after that, Meadow came home with us, and Gracie had a little sister. (And yes of course we taught Meadow to fly.)
That could have been the end of it. A nice interaction, a happy family, a healing dog. But Meadow was just getting started.
The Discovery Flight
We own a flight school, where people who want to become pilots come to get certified. When a student is just starting out, they often begin with a discovery flight. A discovery flight is exactly what it sounds like: a chance to discover whether you actually like sitting in a teeny tiny airplane, shoulder to shoulder with another human being, for hours and hours, in good weather and bad.
The breeder had mentioned that one of her daughters might be interested in getting her pilot’s license, so to thank her for such a perfect pup, we offered to take her and her daughter up on a discovery flight. On the day of the flight the daughter was busy, so her sister came instead.
This was the daughter that we had met when picking Meadow. She told us she was definitely interested in becoming a pilot, but that she had never really allowed herself to dream of actually doing it. She didn’t know how a person even gets started. They had a great flight, and by the time the wheels touched down, she was hooked.
But still. How?
The Scholarship
A few weeks later, we were working an information table at a community flight day. A visitor stopped by, and it turned out we knew him from years back. He was a member of EAA, the Experimental Aircraft Association, the group behind the Young Eagles program, which has flown thousands upon thousands of kids on free flights to spark a passion for aviation and inspired many of them to go on to become pilots.
He had news to share. He knew of a scholarship, and he wondered whether anyone at our flight school might fit the requirements. Among them: you had to be under twenty years old and just beginning your flight training.
I had met a dozen impressive kids at our table that day. But the breeder’s daughter was on my mind. I excused myself from the table, called the breeder, and shared everything: the scholarship details, the contact information, how to apply. I invited her daughter to the next EAA meeting too. All told, I passed that same information along to 6 or 7 other people that day.
Three of them followed up. All three showed up at the next EAA meeting. And for the next few months, all three of those young ladies volunteered at Young Eagles events, attended meetings, and begged for more flights.
Then one day, one of those young ladies received an email.
She got it. The breeder’s daughter got the $12,000 scholarship.
What a Difference
Trace it backward and the whole chain hangs on a puppy. Ranger’s loss led us to a breeder. The breeder had a daughter. A puppy named Meadow led to a discovery flight, the discovery flight led to a community event, the event led to a chance conversation, and the conversation led to a scholarship that will help launch a young woman toward a dream she had never let herself dream.
Dinah Washington was right. Twenty-four little hours can change everything. But sometimes it isn’t a day that makes the difference.
Sometimes it’s a dog.
Want to Chase the Dream Yourself?
If you (or a young person you know) have been quietly dreaming about flying, the scholarship in this story is the [EAA Ray Aviation Scholarship](https://www.eaa.org/eaa/eaa-chapters/eaa-chapter-resources/chapter-programs-and-activities/ray-aviation-scholarship-fund), which provides funds that can be used toward flight training for youth ages 16 to 19. It’s administered through local EAA chapters, so the first step is connecting with a chapter near you and getting involved, just like the young ladies in this story did. EAA also offers a range of other [flight training scholarships](https://www.eaa.org/eaa/learn-to-fly/scholarships) worth exploring.
And if you’d like to find out whether flying is for you, a discovery flight is the perfect place to start. We’d love to take you up. https://emeraldairflightschool.com/discovery-flight/
If you are looking for the right dog, to make a difference and possibly change everything check out our puppy page to learn more about our upcoming litters.
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