Forever in our hearts

That girl, right up there? That's my puppy doggy, Freckles. She might be 11 1/2 years old, but she will always be my puppy. Today is her last day here with our family, she has liver cancer and we would rather her not suffer anymore than she has to. It's the best thing for her, but that doesn't make it easy.
We have had her for just about as long as she's been alive, a little over half of my life. That is one basset hound that has never been hunting a day in her life, and if our house were to get robbed or broken into, she would just wag her tail and lick them to death. Anyone and everyone that came over was there to see her, no matter who they were, they were there for her. For the longest time after we got her, mine was the only bed that she would sleep on and the only room she would sleep in-which was fine with me since I'd always wanted that to happen, a dog to sleep at the foot of my bed.
If dogs could talk, I'm sure she would have the best stories to tell. I know I have some of her. She had a stomach of steel, and that's no exaggeration. Nothing made her sick, from chocolate (with the wrappers) to plastic humming bird feeders, if she could chew it she could eat it. She was always so playful too. My sister and I never told our parents this, but, when they were gone running errands or off to somewhere we didn't want to go, we would stay at home and rial that dog up until she was bouncing off the walls, then we would have her chase us around the house for a minute before running in my parents  room, jumping onto their bed, and hiding under the covers waiting for Freckles to come and jump up right after us and start gnawing on our feet through the blanket. I think that was probably the best thing we ever did when our parents were away.
She's older than in that picture above now. Her face has turned grey, she's gained weight and lost a lot of it in the past week. She was the best puppy doggy I could have ever asked for and, even though she drove dad nuts, she will be greatly missed in all of our hearts.

I love you puppy doggy, thank you for letting us be your family for 11 years, I wouldn't trade it for the world. I hope you enjoy your sunny spot in the back yard baby girl, you'll always be a puppy to me.

Constantly changing

Sometimes, people grow apart. It's not planned, it just happens. Friendships, relationships, siblings, families, it happens. It's not always the best thing to happen, but it does. And to be honest? It kind of sucks. I've lost many a good friend because of it. Relationships have fallen apart because of it-some for better and some not so much. I didn't plan on it to happen or necessarily want it to happen, it just did.
At some point or another, it will happen to all of us. We might not even realize it's happening but it is. Phone calls become shorter or less frequent, the texts become few and far between, and, eventually, we become a memory to each other. Somebody that we remember we had some good times with and not so good times with, but they were there, through everything. Then one day things change and life goes on, from time to time we think about each other and the way things were but things are just to different now. No longer part of each others every day lives, just a thought that comes and goes.
Next time you get that thought, think about it hard. Think about what you had and the laughs you shared, think about who was there when you were dealing with things they couldn't understand but they were there anyway. Take time to say hi to them no matter how long it's been.
To often things change. That's the way life is, constantly changing. Don't take what you have now for granted because in a short amount of time, those things and people you have could be gone.
Don't let them change to much without realizing it, or it might be to far and in between that you see or talk to someone that once meant a lot to you.

Absentee

They say distance makes the heart grow fonder, and in some cases this may be true. But sometimes, I think it makes the heart grow absent. Then you think you've got it all, only to later realize you lost a big part of something you had or someone you were and, in many of the cases, you can't get it back. In those cases you have to make the best of what you have, remember what you had, and keep moving forward to what you will hold.
I am moving forward.