August 17, 2003 - 10:51 p.m.
Mike and I would like to thank everyone who called, emailed, and left guestbook messages regarding Solo. We took the boys and got out of town for the weekend, going for a long drive to Old Salem, with stops in between, for coffee and sugar cake in hopes that we could deal with the loss better over a greater distance. To some degree, it worked. There were still bursts of tears and curses and always the ache of knowing he would not be waiting for us to return home. But I think it was better for us than spending the past few days here, wallowing.
Mike found an old photo of him today, probably taken within the first few months that he came to live with us. I can't believe he was ever that small... Solo was a good 6 months old when we brought him home from the animal shelter, so he was never tiny. But he couldn't have been more than 40 pounds when that picture was taken. (It might have been while we were packing for Emerald Joust, 1997... I'm very bad about dating my photos.) But, compared to the 90-some pound hulk he grew to be, he looks positively diminutive.
I still find myself dragging my toes around the bed at night after turning out the light, feeling for a sleeping dog somewhere on the floor. More than once, I've reached into empty air to scratch absent ears. And I do not know if I will ever become accustomed to the silence - or what to do with pizza bones... I miss him terribly.
