What Next?

You’ve probably noticed it’s been a couple weeks since our last bark. I sure noticed. I kept trying to think about what to put in the DailyBark.

It’s not like nothing was happening. I got a prize for my good manners. Jack has been taking a shower every week for his dandruff. Tess started working with our trainer.

Nellie hasn’t done much other than wander in circles and drop bombs in the house.

Usually mom pushes me to stay on deadline. Sometimes we talk about what’s important and how I should report the news. Once in a while I get to do a goofy op-ed piece and have some fun barking about nothing.

We’ve been doing the DailyBark for over two years now. It’s been a lot of fun and I can’t imagine life without barking at the world. But I feel like I gotta do something different.

Maybe it’s because I’m older and I’ve been to school. I don’t run off on my crazy adventures like I used. to. I listen to mom and come when I’m called. I stay in my place when people come to the door. No more jumping all over the neighbor.

It’s coming up on that time of year when Codie left us. This will be three years without her. I still have this great big ache in my heart for Codie, but it’s getting harder to remember all the fun stuff we used to do together.

I asked mom if I could do some barks to honor Codie. Like maybe tell about Codie as a puppy and how she led the life of a princess. Only problem is I can’t bark Codie’s story by myself because I wasn’t around when she was young.

Me and mom have been talking it over. I asked mom to get out all the old pictures she has of Codie and tell me a story for each one. Mom kept saying, “After we get our taxes done, Ash.”

Well guess what. The stupid taxes got done yesterday. Mom’s gonna help me with Codie’s story starting tomorrow.

I asked mom if we could start out with “Once upon a time…”  Mom laughed and said I have a whole day to think about it, but come tomorrow we launch our project.

I gotta do this. I loved Codie so much. Maybe she’ll come back to me when I bark about her. Maybe she’ll know we still miss her. Maybe she’ll see I turned out to be a pretty good mutt, thanks to her raising me when I was a pup. Maybe we’ll all feel good remembering Codie. Maybe it’s just something I gotta do.