Kelly was the pup we got after Sandy died.

Mom and I found her family by looking at ads for free puppies in the paper.
We drove around all day looking, while Dad was at work.
I was determined I was coming home with a puppy that day.

Here is a picture of us together the day she came home. This looks like my "Keith Partridge Phase" hairdo again, circa 1973.

Little did I know that I was bringing home the pup that would be the kindred spirit to my father for the rest of their lives. We found them in a barn.  There were many of them. I wanted a girl and she was the only one left. When we brought her home she went to sleep in an old sewing basket my Mom had that Kitty used to sleep in.

She had never been indoors and she watched television that
afternoon with deep fascination until my father came home.
Then it was love at first sight and she was
his dog from that moment on.  It was a good thing,
because I moved into an apartment a year later leaving her with them.
 They were best buddies. Here are a couple of pictures
of them together - thick as thieves were they.  

This picture was taken the day we brought her home. Don't you love it when they stick their little feet out behind them like that?

She was sweet and shy.  The kids in the neighborhood
would come and ask if she could come out and play.
 Mom would tell them she was in the back yard
and they would go around to see her and she would come inside.
 When we went for a walk, we would go to
the end of the driveway and she would look both ways.
Whichever way was clear with no people was the way she would want to go.
 She and Dad used to walk up to the corner
every evening and "smoke".  He also used to celebrate her birthday
every year by giving her a "twinkie" with a candle on it.
. Here is a picture of her first birthday party.

I would stay with her when they went on vacation.
 I would come home at lunch to let her out to go potty
and she would go around the yard and smell
every flower in the yard before doing her business.

Here is a picture of Kelly and I. She was probably smelling the flowers before this picture was taken.

When she was a pup, she used to play
with the neighbor's "grandpup son" Casey.  Casey belonged to their
son and daughter-in-law and they would bring him to visit.
Casey got Kelly into all sorts of trouble by pulling up flowers
in the yard and even beating on a baby bluejay.
 (The baby wasn't hurt - they would bop him on the head
to make him squawk. We rescued him from them.)
 The neighbors also had their own dog, Frito.
Frito was alive when Sandy was with us too.
And little Buttons lived down the street.  They were all friends.

Casey		Buttons		Frito

I would also like to show you a picture of Dad with Kelly and Buttons.
Buttons really was a nice little dog. He moved away from our neighborhood
and we never saw him again. We did hear that many years
later his owners had to make the awful decision to end
his suffering and he went to Rainbow Bridge.

A funny story about Kelly started when Mom told the neighbor
that Kelly NEVER got on the furniture -
but Cheryl said "Oh yes she does, as soon as you leave".
So we left the house one day and drove around the block
and pulled up front. Then we sneaked in a side door
and there she was all stretched out on Mom's good couch with her head on the pillow.
It became a really big joke after that.
We would come in and feel the furniture and she would slink out of the room.
Or you would come into a room and find the loveseat rocker, rocking.
It just made us smile. Who could ever be mad at her?

When she was 13 she was diagnosed with cancer.
She was too old and heavy to do surgery on and they just made her comfortable.
 She also had arthritis so it was hard to walk and hard to get up.
We had a vet come to the house to check her.
I was coming to eat dinner that night, not knowing the vet was coming.
To my complete shock, I found them in the backyard digging a grave.
The vet said she was in a lot of pain
and they decided to release her from it while he was there.
Mom later told me the vet came with his wife
and all four of them sat in the garage and cried after it was done.
I was in complete shock and never cried until I got back to my apartment that night.

For some time after that my poor father had dreams of her -
actually nightmares, where she would come to him and tell him
that "he should have come too".  He felt so guilty doing it.
He never had another dog of his own after that.
It just hurt him too much, being the kindred spirits they were.
She will always be special and always will be missed.

Kelly received this special gift from another Bridge Kid kitty named Bo.
Thanks Nancy and Bo for this lovely gift.

Please visit the link below and meet some beautiful faces
waiting patiently for someone to love them as much as you have loved your friend.

Also, please take a moment to sign my guestbook. Thanks.