Giving Thanks at the end of the Year

Although I pride myself on being able to complain about anything at any time I must take a moment while digesting my Christmas turkey, which manifests itself in several tiny tweets directed in Mommy’s face while licking Daddy’s hand in bed, to announce that once again Pocket and I have not only trounced Mommy and Daddy in the receiving of Christmas cards, but also Christmas presents, and to this I have to thank the most wonderful friends any dog could have.  

When I waddle out to the kitchen to take a nice drink of water I look up at the wood that runs around the middle of the wall in our kitchen, and I look at the kitchen window, and wherever I look I see pictures of my friends, cards they have sent me, little expressions of love that turned up in our mailbox every day leading up to Christmas, addressed to us.  You know you have friends when you are six inches tall and the mailman knows your name.

Special thanks to Mrs Sophie Bub, Wills, Koda and Josie; Leo; Tashi, Tiara, Angel Lovey and Trixie; Beaux Jangles, Cali and Hurley; Hattie Mae and any other dogs who our little Yorkie brains have forgotten who have sent us gifts this year. We are planning something special for you but it will in no way repay your generosity.  

I can still remember that day when Pocket was just a puppy and Daddy found an article online about how ridiculous it was that there was a social network for dogs. Mommy asked him should we join and Daddy said “of course we are going to join.”  Mommy doesn’t remember what she did before that day, before meeting so many wonderful people and pups, before she was getting nearly 100 Christmas cards, but she knows it wasn’t much fun.  She is pretty sure she was working back then, but that’s OK.  We can always sacrifice a few extra kibble for a lot extra friends.

We have been so blessed in making new friends this year:  Reese, Meika, Wishbone, Tashi, Tiara, Sonic, Andy and Barney, Bella, PJ, Jovi, Keri, Jondalar, Muffin, Pepper, Kaizer, Candy, Neely, Toby, Jasper and so many more I am forgetting.

It has also been a sad year because we have lost so many great friends.  (I could list them all here but could not possibly do a better job than Tashi and Tiara did with their tributes.  If you have not seen it stop right now and check out the memorials they did on their blogs.) But when most of us started social networking many of us were middle aged to older dogs.  Five years is a lifetime for dogs, and there are going to be more losses in the upcoming year, there is just no avoiding it.  But these losses are a little easier because there are so many friends to hold hands, to help humans through the pain.  While they isn’t a lot, some days all we need is someone just to make it a little easier.  

It reminds me of a story I heard on an old TV show.  A man falls in a hole. He shouts out for help. A doctor comes by, writes a prescription, throws it down, and leaves. Then a lawyer comes by, throws down a business card, tells him to call him in the morning and he will sue the landowner. Then a friend comes by and jumps in the hole with him. The man says “Why did you jump down the hole with me now we are both stuck down here.” The friend says: “True, but I have been here before, and I know the way out.” And that’s what we have. We have lots of parents who lose pups and end up stuck in a hole, and lots of parents willing to jump in and help them find the way out.

I know this year will bring losses, and it will bring new dogs who we will all love, and I know at the end of next year we will all be here in one form or another, standing strong, and together, an unbreakable pact, based on the toughest thing in the world.  Love.