*Life Goes On *

If there is one thing I have learned about Google it's that...  once you put something online in the name of Google - it is almost impossible (for this ancient mind, anyway) to take it down.  I have been trying to clean up my various YouTube channels.  Yes, I have too many and here I am not remembering my email or passwords from 10+ years ago.  So well..  anyway.  

I come to blogger (thank you, Google for preserving all things Gracie) and everything is still as it was.  I started a new blog for Bubbles (our new baby) but I have not been consistent in growing it or updating it.  I like Blogger because I feel comfortable here, writing my thoughts, sharing my photos, and interacting with long-lost friends who do not care if my punctuation is off or if I am foolishly writing about silly, everyday stuff.  That's what life is all about.

*sigh*

I was so hurt to lose Gracie, I wanted to put it all behind me.  But Bubbles has helped me to conclude that my Gracie days are not over at all. She lives on in my heart, just as many of my family and friends do - who have passed on from this life. 

Memories are a beautiful thing and today I am reviewing old journals, both prayer journals and daily journals. I intend to do this for a while because I believe that is what God is leading me to do. Going back five, ten, or even twenty-some years - I can see so much about who I was and how God worked to bring me clarity and vision on how to go forward each day despite my weaknesses and sins and be better. 

Still, every morning I need to examine my ways, thoughts, and life in general and ask God to reveal to me the stuff of life that will draw me closer to Him and away from myself. Keeping a journal is a good way to document God's faithfulness and it is great at showing me that I'm not all I felt I was cracked up to be. Haha!

I miss my girl Gracie. I'm looking for Bubbles 'voice' to share. But so far there are only two loving eyes watching my every move and frantically following me from room to room to make sure I do not get out of her sight.

I hope this year finds happiness and contentment for all.

BUBBLES

GRACIE.  MINUTES BEFORE LEAVING THIS LIFE.

A Little Christmas Blog Post

Christmas time I think of Gracie.  After all, she spent seventeen Christmases with us.  That's a lot.  We put her under the tree with the rest of the gifts when she was a baby.  After all, she was my Christmas present that year.  She was the best one I have ever received, to be honest.  

That first Christmas was filled with such happiness.  We had just purchased our bargain home for $39,000 so we could *ahem* get a dog.  It didn't need much work because it belonged to a meticulous older lady who left the place spotless and beautiful.  We did finish the basement though, and oh, what a wonderful place of recreation that turned out to be for us and our new dog.  

I remember ordering the off-white plush carpet to be installed before we moved in, and then, the white dog weeks later.  White carpet and white dog went together like...  WAIT...  

Now if Gracie were here, she would have a different story.  But I am here to share that potty training that little stinker took over a year.  It seemed I was constantly on my hands and knees scrubbing that white carpet. 

The pages of time seem to turn more quickly as we get older.  Before I knew it, our bargain home had been sold to buy a home that we could turn into a business along a busy highway.  Gracie didn't mind the move.  She was adventurous like that. 

Fast forward to the end of that chapter.  The part where Gracie would be leaving us and my heart would break so tragically that I did not know how there could be another chapter going forward.  I could not remember life without her, so how could I think of tomorrow with no white dog hanging around.  

Gracie's last Christmas

HAPPY HEAVENLY BIRTHDAY GRACIE

 Getting a puppy helped with my grief after losing Gracie.  There was no doubt about it; I needed a distraction from the pain.  Bubbles offered that distraction.  As she grew, I fell hopelessly in love.  

But I'm not here to talk about Bubbles.  Had she lived another two years, Gracie would have been twenty years old today.  

I miss so much about her.  This was her favorite time of year when the days cooled, and we would walk along the quiet of the towpath, me drinking in the beauty of God's nature and she, nose to the ground, sniffing out the things God provided for her enjoyment.  She wasn't anxiety-ridden and afraid like our new dog is.  Gracie was ready for an adventure and afraid of very little.  She might try to pick a fight with a dog or two along the way, but still, no fear.  

She was heroic in that she never gave up trying to enjoy life.  Even when she could barely stand alone, she was ready for her next walk.  

Happy Heavenly birthday, sweet girl.  You are missed and loved.

FOREVER YOUNG