Joey, Joseph, Buddy, Baloney, Jojo. These are all names that we call Joey throughout the day. I used to call him Baloney almost all the time but now he is pretty much known as Jojo. Joey was a challenge for Eliza to say but Jojo was easy and kind of fun. I miss calling him Baloney. I noticed that I started calling him Baloney again this week. And yes, I named him Joey because he reminded me of a baby kangaroo.
I met Joey over 13 years ago. It was December 22, 1999. My father-in-law had passed away the day before from cancer. My mom had been gone since March of that year and my heart was still healing. I was about to experience my worst flu ever (still to date) and Y2K was days away (remember thinking the world was going to end?). Oh, and the little dog that I had thrown my work meeting appetizers at while trying to rescue her from the side of the road just about 60 days earlier (who we decided to add to our canine family of Enjoue and Daisy) just had 10 puppies.
I knew I couldn't really keep any of the puppies. We already had three dogs and that was a lot. But I remember holding Joey later that evening of the day he was born and saying something along the lines of "You're staying with me. Forever." And that is exactly what happened.
The last 13 years have been tragic, amazing, depressing, exciting, thrilling, challenging, disappointing, adventurous. They have been full of change, full of lessons learned, and full of love given and received. I lost extraordinary people that I loved deeply. Others left almost as soon as they came into our lives. I gained special friends and an amazing family. And Joey has been with me through it all. There were days that I would have stayed in bed all day or for days but Joey and Daisy and Enjoue (until 2007) made me get out of bed, stop feeling sorry for myself and take a walk. They helped me keep off the weight I had lost in 2003 with our daily walks. They were there when I got home after a long day at work and there in the morning when I woke up. Although I spent most of the last 13 years by myself, I was never truly alone. And when I moved from Crown Point to Lowell to Muncie to Toledo to Sylvania to Indianapolis to Avon, they were there. Never complaining, never making it hard, always there to help make our new house a home.
Some people don't understand how other people can treat their pets like people or in a way, children. I know I've met many people along the way who have thought I was nuts for having so many dogs at one time (7!) or for feeding them quality dog food or for never boarding them but always finding a way to bring them along with me where ever I was going or to have a pet-sitter stay at my house with them. But when a dog comes into your life and saves your heart and soul from being devoured by the tragedy that sometimes is life then you will do anything in your power to treat them the best way you can. Especially when you fall in love with them from their very first breath.
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