A QUICK TRIP TO THE ZOO

What better reason to go to the zoo than to visit our Aunti Lori for her birthday (she works at the zoo and is usually our reason for a quick visit!)!  We had a great time with the flamingos; one in particular enjoyed nibbling on our feet and Eliza's hair.  We also watched the dolphin show from "underwater" and enjoyed watching the bear play with his toy.  The Indianapolis Zoo is a great place to spend the day!  Or just an hour or two.  

Happy Birthday Aunt Lori!

PHOTO SHOOT

Last November I won a silent auction bid at the Bow Wow Bash in Brownsburg for a photography session with razberri Photography.  We finally cashed it in this past June with the intent of capturing Eliza at this very adorable age.  I think we accomplished that and then some.  Please enjoy the slide show/gallery and let us know what you think.  

Eliza's Gallery and Slide Show

(You can click on the last icon on the lower right to enlarge the gallery to full screen.)

ELIZA'S SECOND BIRTHDAY PARTY

Despite the rain (which was very disappointing after spending a couple of months making yard improvements) we had a really nice time celebrating Eliza's second birthday with some great friends and loving family.  

Our theme was CUPCAKES!  We even had mini cupcakes that you could frost and decorate yourself.

This second year really flew by so we are hoping her third birthday takes it's time coming around.  She is growing up way too fast!

GOODBYE JOEY

From your first breath to your last

You were the guardian of my heart. 

From your first breath to my last

Forever in my heart. 

Joey Baloney

December 22, 1999 - June 1, 2013

Always loved, forever missed.

SAYING GOODBYE TO JOEY, PART 4

Remembering.  It's hard remembering when time erases memories you didn't protect.  I didn't even know I had to protect my memories.  It's been 14 years since my mom passed away and I don't think I can remember her voice or her laugh.  I do, however, remember the look she gave me when I was in trouble.  But to remember the sound of her voice, what comfort that would provide at times like this.  Knowing that time can heal the heart but also take away cherished memories I thought I would record things about Joey I don't want to forget like the scent of his fur.  

When thinking about how Joey smells I kept coming up with short phrases like old, worn leather chair.  A new book, an old  book.  Autumn, spring, summer and snow.  Ivy covering an old stone wall and stones at the bottom of a creek worn smooth by an almost undetectable current.  Vanilla and pipe tobacco.  A baseball mitt that had seen years of sunshine and sweat and home-runs.  Fresh cut grass and dead leaves.  The pavement after a spring rain.  A young child after playing all day in the sun.  A piece of sheet music sitting on a music stand ready to be performed for the first time.  A lace doilie passed down from generation to generation.  Sawdust from 100 year old wood floors being refinished.  An old house waiting for the right owners to give it new life and a new life.  A freshly made bed.  Opening the windows for the first time in spring and for the last time in the fall.  Sunflowers and lightning bugs.  Wet pennies.  Holding hands.  Paper drink umbrellas.  A new can of paint and a favorite paintbrush.  Reaching into your coat pocket and finding money and chocolate.  Watching a foreign film in an old theater eating popcorn out of a red and white striped box with a flap. 

Making the list was fun and I let myself continue until it felt right to stop.  I knew right away that most of the things on the list really weren't scents or smelled at all but were things that elicited feelings of comfort and joy, peace and tranquility, of hope and happiness.  And in the end I realized Joey doesn't smell like anything in particular. Joey smells like Joey.  Joey smells like memories.

SAYING GOODBYE TO JOEY, PART 3

I love this face. 

Joey 5.28.13

SAYING GOODBYE TO JOEY, PART 2

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.