“[Animals] need the love. And you don’t understand what kind of love they can give you.” -Pat Gary

 

Furry… Feathery… Scaly… 

They come in different sizes, coats, colors, and even personalities! Today, we will talk about one of your favorite topics- your animal babies. We are blessed to have such loyal, loving buddies. We can say, these babies are the embodiment of joy, warmth, and sweetness. For thousands of years, humans learned to domesticate animals, and many people took it to a whole new level by rescuing them. Sadly, a great number of our animal friends fell victim to cruelty, neglect, and abandonment. So one of the best gifts we can give them is a new home and a loving family. Join de de and Pat Gary as they talk about all things animal rescue, judging others, and books! If you’re wondering where de de got the title for her book, Stolen Rosesit was Pat’s idea. Tune in and hear the story behind this title and more funny anecdotes from today’s episode!

 

Highlights: 

01:32 Title Ideas Turn Into Good Books

06:48 Why Judging is Never A Good Idea 

09:34 Rescuing Furry Babies

14:29 Loving Animals 

16:07 Don’t Judge Others

 

Resources:

de de’s Books

Two Degree’s Series 

Rescued Heart Series

 

Where do great book titles come from? Join @dedeCox and her long-time friend, Pat Gary as they share the funny story behind Stolen Roses, and insights about animal rescue (which is also the topic of de de’s new series). #dedecox… Click To Tweet

 

Quotes: 

11:00 “[Animals] need the love. And you don’t understand what kind of love they can give you.” -Pat Gary

16:53 “We’re all here on this earth to do something, so do something and be kind about it.” – de de Cox

 

Meet Pat Gary:

Pat is de de’s dear friend from middle school to high school. They graduated together. One day he posted “Oh! This would be a great title for your book.” and de de’s Stolen Roses was written. From there – Poof!! They are celebrating their 40-year high school reunion this year.

 

 

Transcriptions:

de de Cox So welcome. Guys, welcome back. I have a very, very dear friend with me today. And we go way back. We go back to middle school, but I wanted to tell you a little bit about him and what happened on Facebook. So he knew that I was a romance writer, and he was making comments on my posts and he made a picture. And he said, “de de, this would make a great title for a book.” And I said, “Absolutely.” So I owe my success of Stolen Roses to this man right here. This is my very, very dear friend. He came up with the name and so I use the name, Stone Roses and that has been my best selling book. So I want to do a couple of questions with him, because he’s very, very sweet. He’s very kind. And so I want you to tell them, when you posted that picture, did you actually have in mind me during the book?

Pat Gary No, I actually not. Actually, I am a lover of flowers and so forth. And before I got my own roses, I would go around in alleys and steal other people’s roses.

de de Cox Steal like to borrow them?

Pat Gary Yes. Borrow them, that’s a better way to put it. But I posted it and they were called Stolen Roses. And jokingly tell de de that it would be a great title for her for new book.

de de Cox I know and you didn’t think I was really serious.

Pat Gary No. I didn’t.

de de Cox You know, I went to bed and I thought, Okay, this is absolutely fantastic. Because the concept I had, and I asked you, I said, “Was it okay?” And when I said, was it okay, what did you think that I was thinking you’re like,

Pat Gary No.

de de Cox So taking this and you guys got to come to the farm with me and different things. What has been the best part about Stolen Roses for you and that little baby picture that you sent me of all this journey, because I could not have done this without you.

Pat Gary I think it’s just amazing that I’ve been able to play a part in this. And it’s all been wonderful and she’s included me at everything. You know, as far as the book is concerned, and I really appreciate that. She’s my hero. She really is.

de de Cox Well, you’re my hero, because you gave me the work to do it and you gave me the title to it. And when you say inclusion, there is never not a moment that I thought I would never say thank you. Let’s just say not you’re not. You’re very compassionate. You’re very loving. And I knew that–

Pat Gary As you.

de de Cox –as well. That’s a ditto kind of thing. We love each other. You also gave me the title for All His Love For Christmas, my fifth book, what made you think of all his love?

Pat Gary Actually, I was preparing more flowers that my husband had grown. And I thought he’s not a fan of gardening. But the flowers are so beautiful, and the only thing I can think of is what brought them to pass, which was all of his love.

de de Cox And that became my fifth book All His Love.

Pat Gary Yes.

de de Cox Now I want folks to know–

Pat Gary I need a copy of it.

de de Cox Absolutely, I’ll give you a copy. But I want folks to know, you actually are in the floral industry, correct?

Pat Gary Well, I’m actually in love in gardening.

de de Cox Okay, but that’s something that you love to do.

Pat Gary Yes. Like I don’t, I’m not going to work. Living migraine every day I get to play with plants just one of my hobbies which I’ve always enjoyed. I got that from my mother.

de de Cox First off, I don’t do dirt. No. I’m very–

Pat Gary I do dirt and I’m very, very happy about it.

de de Cox Yeah. So if I had to ask you what’s your favorite flower?

Pat Gary My most favorite flower is a Calla Lily.

de de Cox And they are? What is this? Is this a white?

Pat Gary Well they’re very [inaudible] but my favorite is the white one and they’re gonna have this one great big blue.

de de Cox Oh, is this like typically get in a special holiday?

Pat Gary No.

de de Cox Yeah. You said they bloom all year.?

Pat Gary You see them a lot in weddings.

de de Cox Oh, yes. And your a romantic at heart.

Pat Gary Yes.

de de Cox Tell me when–

 

Pat Gary Actually I watched the wedding before I came here, what’s the name of it, The show. It has the [inaudible] in it.

de de Cox Oh, oh my lord, the Equalizer?

Pat Gary No.

de de Cox No.

Pat Gary No. It was one of her comedy series.

de de Cox Oh, comedy series.

 Pat GaryWedding singles.

de de Cox Yes. I love them.

Pat Gary [inaudible] finally got married.

de de Cox Oh, they did? I didn’t watch it all the way to the [inaudible]

Pat Gary My hands are all girl.

de de Cox So I want to ask you, I met Derek. And I met him at where we do the debut in Georgetown we’re still in the business, and I want to know what you saw in him. What made you say he’s the one. He’s my Stolen Rose. He’s all my love.

Pat Gary Because he is– when I first saw his picture, they know that it was soulmate? Because there’s this look on him. But it turns out, he’s one of the sweetest men I’ve ever met, actually is the sweetest man.

de de Cox Well, when did you said that? The farm. Was that his first time when we grow Stolen Roses, the country music video, was that his first time seeing like all the animals and different things–

Pat Gary Oh, no.

de de Cox — in person? Okay. So he loved the ducks. He went to the ducks [inaudible] through there, and then we did the horses and things like that. But when I see you, and when we come forward, I look at you and I think such God bringing you back, because when we graduated me that we all had a different direction. And we don’t know if we’re going to actually stay in touch with each other. And so I think that one post was meant for you to come back, to come back into my life.

Pat Gary Or at least we are back together before at the pageant.

de de Cox Well, yeah, that’s true with the pageant. Oh yeah, the pageant. I didn’t realize the pageant industry is like a little underground world and he and Derrick judge for me, and they did a magnificent job. Because he was like, I never done this before. Don’t worry about it, you know. So I want to ask you something. So what was the most difficult thing about judging?

Pat Gary It was difficult not to get overwhelmed. Because they were also sweet and–

de de Cox In an art, you know, I just did that’s just your opinion for this day. And I think Derek did a fantastic job. He loved it. He was like a pro at it. He is a ham. So I love the fact that he’s not afraid to be that, ham and to be in the forefront. I do want to ask you, you know, going forward, you know, I haven’t been able– we’ve posted it, you know that we want the book to go to Hallmark and different things. And I actually surprised we’re doing a memorandum of understanding late this afternoon, as I told you, we’re signing it. So I wanted you to be a part of the movie, whether it is to lifetime or Hallmark or wherever it goes. And I want to know what you think about having a cameo because of the importance that you played.

Pat Gary I think that’s great. I really do. I think that it will be wonderful.

de de Cox Well, I’m not doing it without you because you have been so important to me and getting the book to that point. Most people think that I just made the name up. And if I ever forget to say thank you, I want you always to catch me, because I don’t do it to be in the forefront. I do it because you’re the one. You’re the one that set it in motion. Did I  put too much stress on you?

Pat Gary No.

de de Cox When I say thank you?

Pat Gary No.

de de Cox Okay. Is there anything that I–

Pat Gary I’m so happy to be a part of it.

de de Cox Is there anything that I have forgotten that we need to talk about with Stolen Roses or where we want to see it? If you do your cameo, what do you want to play? Do you want to play like in the audience are you are playing the cafeteria? That little cafe that I did. So I forget I call it Colonel Hux is what I we’re calling it.

Pat Gary Colonel Hux from [inaudible]

de de Cox Yes.  So I brought a–

Pat Gary Is Colonel Hux still there?

de de Cox No. When he passed away, the restaurants are gonna shut down. But remember that was a famous restaurant, back when we were growing. So but I envision you traveling with me and you know, making that Cameo appearance because I don’t want folks to think that this is just a name. It was your name. It was your picture. So I do want to ask you this, got any other ideas?

Pat Gary Not yet. But I will work on that.

de de Cox How many fur babies do you have?

Pat Gary I have two right now.

de de Cox Two right now.

Pat Gary Lucy and Ethel.

de de Cox And they are?

Pat Gary They are their cats.

de de Cox They are their cats. Have you had any dog?

Pat Gary I had a dog.

de de Cox We had dog.

Pat Gary Yeah. A had a Great Dane that we breed up.

de de Cox A Great Dane?

Pat Gary Yes.

de de Cox That was bigger than you and I.

Pat Gary It weighed more than that. His name was Oakley. But Oakley is so much happier now. He’s living on a farm with other three other Great Dane and he just had his first litter of  slides to your

de de Cox Okay. So he is feeling it. He’s all about that. Now, Ethel and Lucy where kind of– are they rescues?

Pat Gary Yes. From Gallico and a tuxedo.

de de Cox Oh, what’s a tuxedo?

Pat Gary It’s a takes a black and white one. 

de de Cox Oh okay. Okay. So which one is your favorite?

Pat Gary Ethel is mine.

de de Cox Okay.

Pat Gary She’s my baby.

de de Cox And Lucy is?

Pat Gary She’s either–

de de Cox Derrick’s.

Pat Gary But Lucy is easygoing and she’s pleased most of it. She always has to sleep with us. And Ethel is just, Derrick always says she’s like me and up and going out and have invest the way she knows she barely sleeps

de de Cox Really? She’s moving around constantly. So if you had to give advice about rescue, because my new books about rescue for babies and stuff, what advice would you give someone about rescue?

 

“[Animals] need the love. And you don’t understand what kind of love they can give you.” -Pat Gary

 

Pat Gary Just do it. Just do it. They need the love and they don’t understand what kind of love they can give you.

de de Cox Have you been watching that story on [inaudible] the one with–

Pat Gary Yes. 

de de Cox Yes. The Great Dane. The Great Dane.

Pat Gary I found it a Great Dane.

de de Cox It is a Great Dane.

Pat Gary Yeah.

de de Cox Cuz he’s a big boy. So realizing– where did you rescue Ethel and Lucy from?

Pat Gary There was a veterinarian who had a cat compound in Indiana. And my partner at the time Mark. We had decided to, you know, almost died, and he had to go on disability. And he needed some company. So we decided to get some cats. And he went over one time and he picked out two cats. And he wasn’t able to bring them well, they had to do test for them. Well, they found out that they had to live with leukemia and then we put them down and he decided that he didn’t want them again. And one day he woke me up and he says it’s a complicated case. So we went over there. And there were hundreds and hundreds of pets and every one of them were friendly. They walked up to me.

de de Cox Hundreds. You wanted all of them, didn’t you?

Pat Gary And I tell Derek, I said if we ever win the lottery, you might as well get used to the fact that we’re going to have a cat. And we went opposite this little shed that the lady had taken in this cat and she didn’t realize it was pregnant. Well, the day after she brought it in and had babies. And Mark automatically knew which one he wanted. He went to the Calico. And I chose Ethel coz Ethel was a wanderer. And she would then explores. She would go running out into the woods and so forth. And I said, that’s the one I want. And I thought she was a male at first. Well, she was too young to even [inaudible]. Yeah.

de de Cox So how long have you had Ethel?

Pat Gary About 11 years.

de de Cox 11 years? Okay. So do they like each other? Ethel and Lucy?

Pat Gary No.

de de Cox No They don’t? Okay.

Pat Gary They chase each other around and bite all the time.

de de Cox Well, you always have a furbaby in your life?

Pat Gary Oh, yes.

de de Cox  Saying that that rescue me series that I’m doing, I think about us, and our pictures on our postings and rescue and how we want other folks to rescue or take care of them. Because animals– actually sometimes I like animals better than I do humans.

Pat Gary Me too.

de de Cox 

Absolutely. We’re breed a cat. That’s what my grandma used to say.Pat Gary You know we have five horses with me, living besides two.

de de Cox No. They know how to take care of them too?

Pat Gary Yeah. Carrots and some stuff.

de de Cox Get out of here. Oh, that’s right. Did you guys move in order?

Pat Gary Yeah, we moved just down the street just like we’re living in the country.

de de Cox Well, tell me a little about your background, are you originally from the country?

Pat Gary Yes.

de de Cox Okay. And so I was growing up in Bardstown and coming in to my old Kentucky home and then graduating from our high school and different things. What did you have for babies growing up then?

Pat Gary Oh, we always had baby. Yeah. We always have–

de de Cox What’s the most unique thing you ever have? Did you have a duck?

Pat Gary No, but we had chickens. Remember when they used to? Remember like Easter? They used to die the chickens?

de de Cox Yes.

Pat Gary We used to have– they didn’t live very long. We had hamsters and guinea pigs, mice.

de de Cox Oh, yeah. Mice are always on the farm.

Pat Gary No. We had pet mice.

de de Cox You have pet mice? Well, the hamster, the guinea pig is kind of cool but–

Pat Gary They were pet mice– actually we had an experiment as in sixth grade, and we were dealing with how different things you eat effective, and we fed one of them like potato chips and stuff like that. And then we had the other one, which was really healthy. Well, at the end of the year someone gets to take it home with them. And I won the lottery. I started feeding the poor little one that ended in the HSA [inaudible] Getting him right and got him–

de de Cox You are an animal lover. And that’s what I love about you, you and that big old heart, and your kindness and your caring and your compassion towards others that has made me a better writer, because of what you have done for me. My kids have always your inspirational quotes that you take pictures ever that you put out there or whatever. If I had to ask you what one of your best quotes or your most inspirational quote would be, what would it be?

Pat Gary I was reading a post that my husband posted today. And it said, “Do not judge someone else because what you’re judging them on is something that you need to fix yourself.”

 

“We’re all here on this earth to do something, so do something and be kind about it.” – de de Cox

 

de de Cox Oh, that’s good. It’s kind of heavy, because we all judge each other. Yeah, every day, we’re judged on either our parents, or what we post on Facebook, but you’ve never been that person. You are not a judgmental person. Try not to try not I think I see more of you wanting everyone to love each other and can’t we all just like get along. All just not get along and we’re all here on this earth to do something, so do something and be kind about it. We’re getting ready to close. And I want to say thank you for being here because I know you’re busy just like everybody else. But you took time out today. I want you to think of one thing that if you had to describe mine in your relationship, what word would you use? I would say friendship and I would say empathy. Because not only have you built that relationship with me, but your empathy to understand what I want to do and you don’t mean to be in the forefront. You’ve been with me in the front, you bear with me to the side. And I’ve never put you in the back. I never want you to feel like that. But I would say that you could be of you realizing my dream and I wanted to make your dream. And I’d love you forever in a day.

Pat Gary I love you too.