She sure did shine!

Gracie Allen, aka G-Pup, 12 years + 3 months. #rip 06.07.2017 — Thanks for choosing me. You were the truest companion.

This girl owned a big chunk of my heart, and I miss her like crazy. Her illness was acute and sudden and completely unexpected. For the first week, we could still hear her in the house — nails clicking at the bottom of the stairs, body descending to the floor for sleep, shuffling and shifting. G-Pup sounds. We’re still watching our step to make sure we don’t jostle a water bowl that’s no longer there. And we expect to see her face in the window every damn time we come home.

We’re having a summer of rain and thunder and lightning and special weather statements and tornado warnings. It rains at some point almost every day. The gardens are thick and tall in a Jurassic Park kind of way.

The G-Pup had weather-triggered severe anxiety. The truth is I think she saw what the summer was bringing and just decided to check-out early. Oddly, that kind of makes me smile.

I feel ya girl, every day. Rest easy.

____________________

In Other News ~

Three months is the longest I’ve gone without posting to this blog. I think. I hope.

First, it was a little bit of road-tripping, a whole lot of gardening, hunkering into 52Stories52Weeks. Then, it was the passing of Gracie. I felt lost and didn’t have a funny bone in my body. And then, I succumbed to labyrinthitis. I say succumbed because it had the most debilitating vertigo with it. Those inner ear maladies can be tricky. And because they weren’t sure that was the correct diagnosis, I had a bazillion tests. We’re still going with the big L.

I was indisposed, man!

So…

Now, I no longer feel like my head rolls and bobs in the ocean. I don’t feel the need to puke, nor do I feel the need to carry my head under my arm, so I kinda, sorta know where it is. I don’t feel off balance. I feel pretty decent…. almost normal.

There you have it. That’s my sorry tale.

And this is the longest thing I’ve written in as many days.

I didn’t tweet. I didn’t read your posts. I didn’t Insta, except to scroll through what rolled down. I’ll be getting back to all that… starting now.

And Monday is in the house.

Elen

Note: This is a 2010 shot of the G-Pup. Pretty sure it’s soc. I just loved that full-on, sweet face and the lighting.