Honoring Butterbean and his and Lauren's devotion to each other ...
... Honeybelle* is bringing a rose picked from our yard today to the thread for Lauren. (You may have to click on the link to see Honeybelle and the rose... I can't seem to make it show.)
*Honeybelle's story:
Honeybelle is the mother of the five pups (three boys, two girls) in my avatar. She is a wonderful, spirited, super-smart and sweet girl, and very devoted.
In Sept. 2010, our beloved Lab mix, Bisket (in the smaller picture), died at the age of approximately 15 years (we didn't know her exact age, because she was a half-grown pup when we found her near a rural dumpster).
I was devastated. Even though I knew Bisket had lived a good, long life and had achingly experienced that she was very sick the last few weeks before she died, I didn't know how I would stand the empty spot she left behind when she went. I soon was on petfinder, etc., looking and looking -- I knew it was a frantic attempt to fill empty arms, and I wasn't sure I was ready, but it got to be almost an obsession. And along with my grief, I felt a little guilty, too -- and hoped Bisket would somehow "understand".
Then, a kind of peace came, with a strong feeling that Bisket was going to send me a dog! I told several people close to me that ... and then I began to worry that somehow I would screw up and not be at the right place at the right time.
A couple of weeks later, Honeybelle showed up as a stray in our neighborhood. She seemed to be about a year old, and she was newly-pregnant. We advertised, but no one claimed her.
I've always said, since, that Bisket was skeptical that one dog could fill the vacancy she left, so she sent six! (Still have four of the pups, now grown; one beautiful little lady went to a new home, where she is cherished -- and I still get to see her from time to time!)