coping

we skipped town and headed down to austin for a few days the morning after our sweet normie passed. just jay, link, mckenzie and me. my parents had rushed over that morning and took us to breakfast, all the while begging us to leave town, as they thought it would help us to get out of our house for a bit. as usual, mom and dad were correct, getting out of town and out of our home, where norman was SUCH a big presence, was probably best. we are doing better, taking it one day at a time. jay put it best, that norman will always be a romantic figure in our memory. i cannot think of a better example of the phrase "only the good die young." norman was pure good, pure fun, and as loyal and loving as they come.

to follow up on what actually happened, norman had acute lymphoblastic lukemia. this is most common in children and younger dogs - double dose of sad. in dogs, the average lifespan after symptoms start is two weeks. it not really treatable. this is one of those awful things you read about and think will never happen to someone you love...but it did.

we are trying to move on to a point where we celebrate norman and his impact on our lives and the lives of so many. you wouldn't believe me if i told you how many wonderful friends have reached out, with emails, texts, fb messages, phone calls...thank you all. without your kind words and prayers, i don't know that i could have made it through! norman touched a lot of people's lives and was just one of those extra-special dogs. i'm quite sure he is in heaven right now stirring up a game of fetch with all the other pups and swimming to his heart's content. my how that boy loved to swim!

in the hopes of ending this post on a lighter note, a couple of pics of our little linkster during his first trip to austin (sorry, iphone pics, i forgot my camera). we got to see some of our greatest friends - met mollie and her girls for tacos and jill, GP and their boys for hamburgers the next day. we got to stay a night downtown and then went out to barton creek for the rest of the trip. link did GREAT and took his first road trip in stride, slept the whole way (even during the stop for lunch at george's in waco! where we got his "give me a big O hug" t-shirt - hahaha). he is such a great baby. he even made his first trip to church this sunday when we got back in town - he loved it and was wide eyed the whole service. precious. he kept raising his arms during the music - he already loves him some Jesus! :)

friday he will be two months old. wow!

at barton creek