DOGS, BOYS, AND OTHER THINGS I'VE CRIED ABOUT

Isabel Klee's debut memoir interweaves her years fostering and rehabilitating rescue dogs in New York with her own twenties of heartbreak and self-discovery. Secondhand coverage emphasizes that the lessons she learned from hard-case dogs — patience, boundaries, accepting limits, trusting when a bond is real — map directly onto how she learned to handle relationships and her own growth.

1. Foster before you adopt. Klee began fostering at 25 partly because she was broke and wanted a dog of her own; fostering let her care for animals with low cost and commitment while she figured out what she could actually handle. (source)
2. Don't let a known medical problem block a deep match. She would likely have passed on adopting Simon because of his epilepsy, but he became her soulmate; a condition that scares you off can hide the relationship you most need. (source)
3. Trust the feeling of 'I can't give this one away' as the signal that a foster is actually yours to keep — it was the first time she'd felt it, and it told her Simon was home. (source)
4. Demystify hard medical care for others. Showing how to give a blind diabetic dog her insulin made the condition feel less intimidating and helped her get adopted. (source)
5. Accept your limits as a caregiver. Not every dog can be saved; learning 'you can't help every dog' let her reframe a necessary euthanasia as the dog's time rather than her failure, and to be present through the ending. (source)
6. Build close bonds through patience, trust and time — with a dog or a person, the relationship won't form instantly. (source)
7. Use caring for others as a mirror for self-understanding. Training a reactive dog and navigating an unsatisfying relationship both demand patience, boundaries, and honest assessment, so the skills transfer across them. (source)
8. Don't rush to have life figured out. Make mistakes, date the wrong people, and live; the best parts of life are messy, and your twenties aren't the time to have everything resolved. (source)
9. When sharing work or writing, show the ordinary small caretaking moments — cleaning up, handling a medical emergency, then continuing the day — rather than only dramatic highlights; audiences connect with honest, small-scale reality. (source)
10. Draft before you filter. When writing anything personal, get the story down first without worrying how family, partners, or exes will react; separate drafting from editing. (source, source)