Saturday, we finally met Know, the father of Gus and hopefully, the father of our next dog, a Boston Terrier puppy we hope will be born in mid-July to Hannah, Gus’s mother. We want to do it again, and I want to pick up the small dog journey I began so hopefully with Gus.

Rather than mourn Gus’s loss, I decided the better option for me is get another dog and continue the very lovely journey he began with us. Knox is different that Gus. He looks much like him, and he is a handsome grounded dog, but he is also different.

Knox is calmer and very much at ease, even in strange circumstances.

After he sniffed every inch of our property, he just lay down in the grass to rest. He didn’t mind being photgoraphed either.

KnoxHe reminds me of Red more than Gus, he would make a wonderful therapy dog, he is very appropriate  yet affectionate with people. Knox inspires me to start thinking about training the new puppy, and we are excited about this new promise for the Fall.

We hope to have the new puppy in time for the October Open House, just as we had  Gus last year. There is something healing and natural about this, a way of closing the wound of Gus, of doing it once more with Robin Gibbons, the gentle, thoughtful breeder who was so pained at Gus’s loss.

One way or another, life happens to all of us, and all we can do is move forward and learn and open our hearts to the dance, to the experience of life. There is no one reading this who has not experienced loss or grief or disappointment. That is what it means to be a human, the task for me is to be a good human, or at least, as good a human as I can manage to be.