Eblo

Life Carries On

How the hell do you follow up the announcement of a dear friend's death? Nothing seems appropriate. No matter what the topic, nothing is worthy of pushing Mikey off the front page.

And even if I could find an appropriate topic, like perhaps talking about the grieving process I've been going through, I couldn't do it any justice. I've been drained of all but just enough concentration to banter numbly on my favorite mindless e-mail list. Luckily, there are already a few well-written articles on the topic of the aftermath of our loss. I couldn't even write anything of substance on my 'Memorial' page for Mikey yet, let alone chronicle his funeral.

But life does indeed carry on.

So, a new entry is needed. Lest it look like I'm forgetting about Mike, I've added a permanent link to the navigation column on the right. And while there is no 'good' way to press on, I think I've stumbled on a less-bad one.

Birth.

Martini at 2 Days

I grew up around dogs, predominantly Labradors, and since before we've had our house, Amy and I planned on getting a dog. It only made sense that our first dog would be a lab. Amy's a newcomer to dogs, and labs are pretty easy for first-timers. Amy has wanted a chocolate, and we happened to know of a litter of chocolates that were expected in February.

On Saturday, February 14th, our puppy was born. We entertained the though of naming her Sommit's Chocolate Heart and calling her Valentine, but I think we're going to stick with our original pick, Sommit's Chocolate Martini. One thing that is strange to me is that since we were first on the list to get a female, and there was only one female who survived the birth (one was stillborn), we already know which puppy will be ours. In the past, my family has picked puppies based on personalities that develop after a few weeks. In this case, before her eyes are even open, we know that this girl will be our pet, watch dog, companion, baby sitter and alarm clock. That's a lot to expect from a little half-pound blob.

I happen to have a close family relationship with the breeder, so we were able to visit momma Nutmeg and her pups two days after they were born. I took some really crummy pictures because I didn't have a flash for the camcorder.

So we're both very excited, finishing up reading Family Dog and anything else we can find, moving plants to higher ground, and otherwise puppy-proofing. We're also going to have to start having long talks with the other pets about their new sister who will be joining us in just over six weeks.

Another joyful event recently was the celebration of the fact that just over 30 years ago, I was set upon this Earth. Amy and Tariq threw a double surprise party for BJ and me. We both turned 30 within a week of the party, which was last Sunday. We ate at Buca di Beppo which provided WONDERFUL family-style Italian.

I had kind of caught on to the fact that Amy was up to something when she dragged me out on Sunday, wouldn't tell me where we were going, and stalled in a Walgreen's when we got to the area 15 minutes early. But I was totally surprised by the assemblage she had collected to help celebrate our birthdays.

In addition to organizing the event, they had gotten friends and relatives to fill out and send in silly and fun questionnaires about us and Amy put them together into little booklets for each of us. It was the first full-blown birthday party I've had since I was about 7 and decided they were dumb (I've since changed my view on that), and it was well worth the wait.

I got some really cool gifts as well. An old high school friend collected and polished up 30 gold dollar coins for me. He put them in a bag and said he got me a sack of Sacagaweas. Another 30-oriented gift, from my other high school friend in attendance, was a bottle of Single Malt Scotch whisky that began its stay in a cask in 1974. It's technically 29-year-old Scotch, but we share the same birth-year.

So that's it. Life. Carrying on.