I never owned a dog. When I was growing up we had cats on the farm but they were working cats. Their job was to control the local mouse population; they weren’t allowed in the house. We played with the cats sometimes but they were never really pets as we think of pets today. My brother was a Chicago White Sox fan so the cats were named after members of the White Sox like Nellie Fox, Minnie Minoso, “Little” Luis Aparicio and Chico Carrasquel. I was a Milwaukee Braves fan so I don’t remember the names of any other White Sox players.
Kathy’s family never owned a dog either. I think she said they once owned a rabbit. So, when we got married we never had any inclination to own a dog, or even a rabbit. When our kids were growing up they probably would have loved a dog. Some of their friends had dogs so they had to get their dog fix away from home. The only pets that we had were two gerbils that Matthew owned. I think one was named Geronimo but I don’t recall the name of the other.
Last year Matthew was very lucky to marry Lisa Kothe. Lisa is a wonderful, smiley, and talented woman. She is also a dog lover and owner. So, Matthew married into a dog family. We were very happy that he got a wife and two dogs all for the price of just one wedding and we were happy to have a great daughter-in-law and two fine dogs-in-law. The dogs are greyhounds and I remember their names, George and Lila.
The reason I’m rambling on today about pets and dogs is because yesterday, George, after 13 years, was unhooked from that earthly leash that holds us all for only a short while. And, I must say that even though I never owned a dog, I can understand the sorrow and loss that Matthew and Lisa feel. Matthew told us that George was born on April Fool’s Day and died on Halloween. I guess he wasn’t one to pick a regular day for these events.
So long George. We’ll miss you.