We had made plans to visit our son this weekend in Vermont. Whenever we go there, we like to take the truck so the dogs can come along. They love to "go for a ride", especially when it is to Vermont. Our son lives on the property of a horse farm, so lots of great animal smells for them, and they get to see our son Freddie and his young dog Willow.
Pete was originally Freddie's dog, back when we he was still in high school, and we still had 2 rescue greyhounds at that time.
Here's a young Petey learning the ropes from the 2 old couch spud hounds.
But then there were years of college, and living away (for Freddie, not Petey) and he became Joann and my dog more than our son's. Greyhounds have very short lives, and when they passed, within 3 months of each other, my wife brought home Charlie, the yellow lab puppy, as a companion for Pete. Here's puppy Charlie:
And a few years later, "going for a ride" in our boat up in Rangeley, ME
Charlie has never been the only dog here before. He still acts like a pup, even though he's now 10 years old. It's time for Charlie to get all of our doggie attention for a while (Joann also has 4 cats that let us live with them).
We'll still go to Vermont this weekend, but there will be a conspicuously vacant space in the back seat of the truck and in our hearts. At least we can commiserate with our kids, as they will all be there for the long holiday weekend. Joann and I won't be getting
lonely any time soon... but we did lose the best one of the animal bunch. Thanks again for all the responses.