It's Been A While...

Things have happened. It's been a tough year. We lost Penelope. Here is something I wrote about her.

Last night we said goodbye to our sweet, strong, amazing girl. In her 13-month battle with cancer, she endured 5 surgeries, 4 rounds of radiation, 3 rounds of chemo, and countless pokes, prods, and indignities. She never lost her spark or her friendly good nature. She was always and ever a joy to be around, making new friends wherever she went right until the very end.We only had three years with Penelope, but they were three terrific years. It was an instant and deep affinity. How could you not love such a good girl? She deserved every happiness the world could give her. More than that.If you’re reading this, you’ll probably feel sorry for our loss. It is a tremendous, heartbreaking loss. But, more than anything, we are grateful for the time we had with her. She made our lives so much richer. She made us friendlier people. She drew us out into the world on new adventures. Her happiness was our happiness. Her pain was our pain. We wouldn’t trade any of it for anything in the world.Penelope was just about the best dog a human being could hope to know. We miss her so, so much. It is so painful to realize she won’t be coming home, to look around the house and not find her. It hurts so much, but it’s all worth it to have had her in our lives.If I could ask you for one thing, it would be to please support your local animal shelters. There are thousands of amazing animals just like Penelope, just like Audrey, who are waiting to make people’s lives better. Give them a chance. You will not regret it.

And here are some of my favorite pictures of her...

Crissy Field Beach

San Francisco Animal Care & Control

San Francisco Animal Care & Control is San Francisco's "only open door animal shelter that accepts any animal - in any condition - of any temperament. SF ACC is responsible for the City’s stray, injured, abandoned, neglected and mistreated animals - of all species - and wildlife. All varieties of animals are available for adoption daily."

Having adopted two dogs who were surrendered to shelters (Audrey came from the Pinole shelter, Penelope from  SF ACC), I feel as though I owe decades' worth of happiness and camaraderie to organizations like the SF ACC. They do so much to enrich the lives of both people and animals. I've seen that impact first hand.Please join me in supporting the SF ACC's latest fundraiser, Bringing Music to Their Ears, which will supply the facility with a state-of-the-art sound system to sooth and calm shelter animals and the people who care for them in an often hectic, loud, and stressful environment.

[all images courtesy of SF ACC and some taken by me]

A Long Absence, A Terrible Loss

Our dog died in February. She would have been 14 this year. Though Ben and I both know that 14 years is a good long lifetime for a big dog like Audrey, it simply wasn't enough time for us. We were, and remain, devastated by her loss.Needless to say, I haven't felt much like blogging.Life goes on, of course. But still, not a day goes by when we don't look at her pictures or talk about how much we miss her. We still do that silly thing where we speak in her voice when we mock each other. We dream about her at night. We were a such closely knit little pack. We will never get over her. We miss you so much, Audrey. We love you so much.Someone, please, give us our dog back. 

My Dog is an Awesome Dog

These pictures are old, but Audrey (now 13) is still as awesome a dog as ever there was.