Journey

What’s In A Name?

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Journey

Journey, it’s such a lyrical and unusual name. People ask us all the time how Journey got her name. If Mom thinks the question is sincere, she will explain why she chose the name Journey. Otherwise she just laughs and says it’s a secret.

The story of Journey and her name predates my time at Asherpark, but I’ve heard the story so many times I know it by heart.

Long before I was born Mom was blessed with a dog named Asher. For years Ash had a girlfriend named Tess. They were called the evil twins and did everything together. Then Tess got cancer and died. Ash was really sad without Tess and wasn’t his silly self any longer.

Mom saw how unhappy Ash was and knew she had to find Ash a pal, so she went back to the farm in where Ash came from. She told the farm lady she needed a girl puppy for Ash to raise. The lady said one of her best dogs just had a litter and there were several girl puppies available.

While Mom was talking to the farm lady, one of the little girl pups climbed out of the whelping box and went on an adventure all by herself. It was clear this little puppy had a strong spirit and would be a perfect match for Ash.

Baby Journey

Young Journey

The puppy was too young to leave her mother, so Mom drove home and waited until the little girl could come to Asherpark. Mom was trying to decide what to name the puppy, but none of the names she came up with seemed right.

One night Mom was in a deep seep when she had a dream. She didn’t know who was talking to her in the dream, but a voice said “Name the puppy Journey.”

The voice repeated the same command another time.”Name the puppy Journey. Her name will remind you that life is a journey.”

Mom woke up from her dream and remembered every word. She couldn’t figure out where the voice came from, but she knew it was a sacred message and she had to do what the voice told her. Two weeks later little Journey came to live at Asherpark. And now you know how Journey got her name.

Asherpark

Can BarkingProse Rise Again?

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Journey – Mole Killer

Lately I’ve been thinking about inertia. It makes sense that if you’re in motion it’s easy to stay in motion, but once you’ve stopped it’s hard to restart.

After our dad died me and Journey argued over who was gonna write the barks for BarkingProse. Mom didn’t have the heart for it and neither did we.

Journey tried to boss me and told me I had to do it. I said I would try if she helped, but she didn’t want to. Journey said she had enough on her plate keeping the damn moles from destroying the yard. I said she was just using that as an excuse.

Months went by and BarkingProse was silent. Journey kept busy killing rodents, mostly moles, and I practiced my manners until mom told me I was the best behaved dog she ever had.

Still I knew mom was sad that BarkingProse was offline. I also knew that as sweet as Journey is, she wasn’t gonna help me with the barks. I decided that if I just started writing, even if I didn’t have much to say, maybe I could bring BarkingProse back to life.

So here I am writing about not much of anything except how hard it is to write. Maybe that’s enough for the first bark. Maybe that’s enough to get the energy flowing. Maybe that’s enough to make me want to write again tomorrow.

To be honest I don’t know how to end this bark. It feels weird to be sending my thoughts out into the universe. Who will read them? Will dead people realize I’m writing about them? Will my dad read BarkingProse? Will Asher look back over the rainbow bridge and say, “Well done, Finn. I’m proud of you.”?

I’m trying to get BarkingProse in motion Then I’ll have inertia on my side. Wish me luck and if you have any suggestions, please leave me a comment. Here we go!

Finn

Finn

Almost A Year

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Finn and Journey

We’re still here. We didn’t go anywhere. We just quit posting barks on BarkingProse for a while.

It’s because our Dad died and we really didn’t have words for what we were feeling.

Dad died almost a year ago. Cancer took him. He wasn’t ready to go but in the end he didn’t have a choice.

Lots of people were dying around the same time from Covid. That meant we couldn’t go anywhere and our family from Virginia couldn’t come see us.

We knew lots of people were concerned about us and they felt bad we couldn’t have a memorial service and do the normal stuff families do when there is a death.

That’s the way life is. You don’t always get to choose the outcome, but you can choose how you deal with it.

In some ways it was okay. Me and Journey spent lots of time with mom. Sometimes she was real sad and we had to sit on her and lick her face to make her laugh. Sometimes she was happy and we would go do stuff together.

The worst part was when the light started to go away in October. The dark months were hard, but we made the best of it. We took long walks in the cold and came home to a warm fire. Mom gave us extra treats around the holidays and we got to hang out with a few friends who weren’t so afraid of the virus.

In January the light began to return. Mom got vaccinated and suddenly the whole world felt different. We visited friends and went places. Mom took us to outdoor coffee shops where we lay real quiet under the table while she had coffee with her friends. Me and Journey noticed Mom was laughing more and didn’t seem so sad.

In April Mom told us she was going to fly to Virginia to see her east coast family. We were real happy for her but we knew it meant we had to stay at the kennel while she was gone.

The whole kennel experience was kinda funny. Me and Journey had to audition for a place. We had to show we had good manners and could play nice with the other dogs. Then we had to go to day camp a couple times so we could learn the rules. We both got A+ on our report cards and earned a place at the kennel so mom could take her trip.

It was hard being away from home for nearly two weeks. We missed Mom a lot and our other friends too, but the time went fast and one day Mom came and brought us home. Here’s us lounging on our first day home. You can see we were pretty tired.

Finn and Journey

Now it’s coming up on a year from the day our Dad died. Mom said it’s a sacred time and we need to be on our best behavior. She wants us to pay attention to BarkingProse and post more barks.

There’s a lot to tell about the past year and lots to look forward to in the year ahead. Don’t be worried about us anymore. Me and Journey will make sure Mom has plenty to laugh about. In fact Journey just brought her a dead mole. How sweet is that!