Phineas with the cherry blossoms in Central Park“It’s no trick loving somebody at their best. Love is loving them at their worst.” ~ Tom Stoppard
Phineas and I had our first fight. Last week he had one day when he didn’t want to go outside, didn’t want to go back inside once we finally got to our walk, didn’t want to go back into our apartment, and then didn’t want me to leave for work. He howled and howled when I left. And not his “I’m sad; don’t leave me” cry” but his “I am so mad at you for leaving me” cry. This was completely unlike Phin. He’s never done that before. the few days prior he did seem to be having some nightmares, and would whimper a little bit in the middle of the night. I should also mention that this same morning both the elevators in my building were clogged due to a movie filming in our building (we live on the 17th floor!), and Phin could hear every single clang of the movie equipment from our apartment. (If they’re going to inconvenience us, the least the producers could do is put us in the movie.) Oy! What a Monday!
I tried everything I could to calm Phin down and nothing, absolutely nothing worked, so I ended up just having to leave with him angry at me. And I was mad at him, too. A grown 35 year old woman angry at a 15 pound, 18 month old dachshund. Now looking back on it, my anger was pretty hilarious. How was Phineas supposed to understand that a movie was filming and he would just have to contend with the noise? At the time it was awful.
In my mind I know Phin was just fine. He had his food and water, his treats, his nice warm bed as well as my nice warm bed if he wanted it. The TV was on and his dog walker was scheduled to take him out later in the afternoon. Still, my heart was sick at work. So sick that I asked the dog walker to send me a text after their walk to let me know if he seemed okay. Chalk it up to still being a beginning full-time dog owner. How do parents manage to their crying children at daycare? A howling dachshund is about all I can manage.
I hate to say this but a small part of my dreaded going home that night. What if Phineas gave me the silent treatment? Maybe I’m a terrible dog parent. What if he didn’t have just a bad morning but this was a turning point in his personality?
Phineas’s walk with the dog walker went well and when I got home he was overjoyed to see me, just like always. We went for a walk, had some dinner, and then he snuggled up next to me on the couch and promptly put himself to bed early. He was just fine. We were just fine. It was just an off morning and nothing more.
Phineas and I learned a valuable thing about love and co-habitation. Eventually, we have to go home and sort out our differences with the beings whom we love. We have to keep showing up. The love and companionship trump any difficulties that may surface along the way. When you love someone, you love regardless of their mood. And yes you’ll get mad and they’ll get mad, but it can and should be forgiven. Tom Stoppard was right – real love means loving them just as they are, Monday morning or not.
IN BRIEF
Author, journalist, digital product manager, and licensed New York City tour guide. Creator and host of NYC's Secrets and Lies. Alumna of the University of Pennsylvania (BA), the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia (MBA), Arizona State University (Biomimicry), and the University of Cambridge (MSt in Sustainability Leadership).
I build digital media platforms, report on urban climate resilience and biodiversity, and produce live narrative experiences that connect communities to history, nature, and place.
THE DEEP DIVE
My work centers on a single thread: building systems and stories that foster deep connection to our shared world. Across digital streaming, environmental reporting, and live civic storytelling, I design experiences that help people understand complex ideas and the environments around them.
DIGITAL PRODUCT STRATEGY & MEDIA LEADERSHIP
At Carnegie Hall, I serve as Digital Product Manager, leading product strategy, operations, and technical delivery for the video streaming platform Carnegie Hall+. I translate artistic mission into scalable, high-performance streaming architecture that reaches audiences globally. Previously, I led agile product and delivery teams across operations and compliance at American Express, managed Broadway theatrical productions and national tours, and guided strategic initiatives across cultural institutions.
ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISM & AUTHORSHIP
As a freelance journalist, I investigate how living systems, urban infrastructure, and human culture intersect. My reported features on urban decarbonization, biodiversity, coastal resilience, and biomimicry appear in publications including Smithsonian Magazine, The Washington Post, Mongabay, Natural History Magazine, and Foreign Policy Magazine. In fiction, I write the Emerson Page young adult novel series, alongside upcoming historical fiction and nonfiction works on New York history, mythology, and human resilience. I also write Togetherhood, a LinkedIn newsletter focused on urban ecology and community restoration, and co-host the podcast Frameworks in the Wild.
LIVE EXPERIENCE & CIVIC STORYTELLING
As a licensed New York City tour guide and live event producer, I transform urban landscapes into shared narrative encounters. I created, produce, and host NYC's Secrets and Lies, an interactive live storytelling series staged across cultural landmarks including the New York Transit Museum, the South Street Seaport Museum, and the historic tall ship Wavertree. I also design and lead site-specific walking tours exploring coastal ecology, food history, and neighborhood evolution, often with partners at Climate Week NYC and the Natural Areas Conservancy.
DOUBLE OR NOTHING MEDIA
Through my independent production studio, Double or Nothing Media, I develop ventures across media, ecology, and public history:
Digital Products & Strategy: Architecting scalable digital platforms, streaming experiences, and operational models for mission-driven institutions.
Environmental Reporting & Publications: Delivering long-form reporting, books, and newsletters grounded in climate resilience and regenerative design.
Site-Specific Live Storytelling: Producing immersive live shows and educational walking tours that engage public audiences in community history.
CONNECT
Website & Production Hub: doubleornothingmedia.com and christaavampato.com
Newsletter: Togetherhood on LinkedIn - linkedin.com/newsletters/togetherhood-7273771832221089792/
Instagram & Threads: @christarosenyc
Emerson Page Novels: emersonpagebook.wordpress.com/
View all posts by Christa Avampato
4 thoughts on “Beginning: What Animals Teach Us About Love”
I wanted to check up and allow you to know how considerably I treasured discovering your blog today. I will reconsider it a real honor to do things at my workplace and be able to make use of the tips discussed on your web page and also share in visitors’ feedback like this. Should a position bright guest writer come to be on offer at your end, you should let me know.
Florencio! Thank you so much for your incredibly kind comment. I’m honored. And would love to have you write a guest post. Since I’m writing about new beginnings this year, I’d love to get a post from you about a new beginning that you’re very passionate about this year. Why you started it, what you hope to gain from it, and how you think it will inspire others.
It was just one of those off days–a bad day at the office.
Have you ever encountered somebody in a bad mood? Try being pleasant to a young lady with a mud pack in the early hours of the morning? The moment she opens the door, albeit reluctantly, you know you are in trouble. No matter how nice you are, chances are she’s gonna give you a piece of her mind.
She may say awful, nasty things to you because you are in the wrong place at the wrong time and she had no choice but to open the door and there was nobody else in the home who could open the door for her. No young lady appreciates it when a stranger appears at her front door when she’s busy recouperating from her beauty treatment. How funny is that?
Similarly, try to see the humour in your situation–and you did.
Everything just worked out in the end. We all have bad days and negative experiences when nothing seems to work out.
However, if you learn to roll with the punches, eventually everything works out just fine. And I am glad it did for you and your adorable puppy, Phineas. Just hang in there. Cheers.
Hi Archan,
You’re absolutely right. It’s so interesting to be a new dog owner, particulary of a rescue pup. I thought it would be one of those things that Phin would be trained and then perfectly behaved forever. So foolish of me to think that way. He is a living, breathing being. And just like the rest of us, he is going to have off days, or the world is going to have an off day and he will react to that. Raising a pup is always a work in progress, and for that I am so incredibly grateful.
I wanted to check up and allow you to know how considerably I treasured discovering your blog today. I will reconsider it a real honor to do things at my workplace and be able to make use of the tips discussed on your web page and also share in visitors’ feedback like this. Should a position bright guest writer come to be on offer at your end, you should let me know.
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Florencio! Thank you so much for your incredibly kind comment. I’m honored. And would love to have you write a guest post. Since I’m writing about new beginnings this year, I’d love to get a post from you about a new beginning that you’re very passionate about this year. Why you started it, what you hope to gain from it, and how you think it will inspire others.
LikeLike
Christa,
It was just one of those off days–a bad day at the office.
Have you ever encountered somebody in a bad mood? Try being pleasant to a young lady with a mud pack in the early hours of the morning? The moment she opens the door, albeit reluctantly, you know you are in trouble. No matter how nice you are, chances are she’s gonna give you a piece of her mind.
She may say awful, nasty things to you because you are in the wrong place at the wrong time and she had no choice but to open the door and there was nobody else in the home who could open the door for her. No young lady appreciates it when a stranger appears at her front door when she’s busy recouperating from her beauty treatment. How funny is that?
Similarly, try to see the humour in your situation–and you did.
Everything just worked out in the end. We all have bad days and negative experiences when nothing seems to work out.
However, if you learn to roll with the punches, eventually everything works out just fine. And I am glad it did for you and your adorable puppy, Phineas. Just hang in there. Cheers.
LikeLike
Hi Archan,
You’re absolutely right. It’s so interesting to be a new dog owner, particulary of a rescue pup. I thought it would be one of those things that Phin would be trained and then perfectly behaved forever. So foolish of me to think that way. He is a living, breathing being. And just like the rest of us, he is going to have off days, or the world is going to have an off day and he will react to that. Raising a pup is always a work in progress, and for that I am so incredibly grateful.
LikeLike