I want to commemorate a big moment in the life of our family. The anniversary of that moment hasn’t yet arrived, but it is approaching rapidly.
It was five years ago when your great-niece — who came to Amarillo, Texas, to visit us for a few weeks — went for a walk and brought home the newest member of our family. His name was Toby; we knew that because that’s what his former “family” called him. We kept the name.
This earlier blog post will explain a bit how we knew about our puppy’s name:
https://highplainsblogger.com/2014/09/puppy-tales-part-3/
He was five months old at the time. We fell in love with him immediately. And he did with us.
My wife and I have long been cat lovers. We have been parents to a number of kitties. We had two of them when Toby the Puppy entered our life. They were getting a little long in the tooth. They didn’t much care for this “intruder.” They learned to tolerate his presence among us.
Then they died.
We’ve had Toby the Puppy all to ourselves.
What a joy he has been.
This is no exaggeration to tell you that every single day of his life with his has brought laughter. We have laughed, giggled, chortled and guffawed with him each day we’ve been together with him.
We aren’t experienced dog parents. We had a couple of pooches over many years. We had a mutt in Oregon for a time; that didn’t work out. Years later, another mutt showed up in our garage in Beaumont, Texas; it was hotter ‘n hell that day and he needed a place to cool off. We gave it to him and kept him for a time … until he ran off, never to seen by us again.
Then came Toby.
We have taken him with us on many trips in our RV. He’s been out west, back east, up north and down south with his mother and me. We’ve taken him to all three coasts: Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf. He is a road warrior to the max. Toby has visited several national parks, communed with bison, elk and bear.
We’ve moved him from house to house to house a good bit, too. His adaptability is legendary. He doesn’t mind being anywhere on Earth … as long as his Mommy and Daddy are nearby.
So, I want to commemorate this upcoming event simply by thanking our great-niece for finding him that day and bringing him home. Toby the Puppy is where he needs to be.