Annie

Welcome everyone! And welcome to the family my little Annie, dear. You all know that for a long time now I have been wanting a Golden Retriever puppy, and tonight my dream has come true. But let me start at the beginning...

Yesterday, Megan came into the office saying " Cindy, Look!" and she was holding a golden puppy. I nearly flew across the room to get to her. A customer had got her two days earlier and brought her in. She let me hold her, but I could tell that the puppy was not well. She was listless and her coat was dull and scabby. Then the lady decided to tell me she had lice. Yuck. And here I was holding her. But , just like with somebodys kid, you cant recoil in horror and thow it back at them, so I kept cuddling her and talking to her. They were really nice people and I know they will take good care of her and she will be fine, but I didn't want to get involved with a sick litter. Harry walked by and I told him I was looking for a golden and he said he would get the name of the people he bought his dog from. Well, later that night, Karen called me and emailed me and said that Harry called her and he had stopped and talked to the people and they had a brand new litter they were selling. So today I met Chip for lunch and told him about it and he said we could go tonight and look. So when I got back to work, I called and set an appointment and we went at 6:00 to see them.

First, I have had the name Annie for a few months now. It just came to me out of the blue and I knew that that was the right name. When we got there, Chip noticed the first cage in the room and it had the name "Annie" on it! How wierd is that. In fact while I am writing this, I am overcome with the feeling that this is absolutely RIGHT.So it turns out that the pups mommy is named Annie. Hmmmmm.

Well, the lady pulled out three females, two light and one dark. I really like the in-between, not too light and not too dark, but the darker one was really the prettiest. Right away I decided against one of the lighter ones-she just didn't have any personality. But the other light one kind of spoke to me. Chip was holding the dark one and I could tell he really liked her. Then we switched and once I held the dark one I felt it too. But I still liked the light one and thought I saw a little of Brandy in her. I was just so confused! Then we put the pups back in their box and let mom in to feed them and after that I watched them some more and the light one was so timy next to the others and I started leaning for the darker one. Really, I was hoping that she would jump right out at me and pretty much say "it's me! take me home", but she didn't . And after all, she is just 25 days old. So even though I didn't have that BAM! revelation, I did know that I wanted that puppy. On the way home I told that to Chip and he said, "well. maybe Brandy was waiting to see which one you picked so she could become that one". So that clinches it.

Bran... I do hope that that is what you are doing. I miss you so much. You know that no one will ever replace you in my heart. You were my once in a lifetime dog. I will love you always, my dearest friend.I know by the signs that you have given me over the last few months that you are ok with this, and that I am doing the right thing.Forever, my friend.

Ok, ok. This is really a happy moment. I feel great emotions right now, but not necessarily guilt, like I thought I would. Its really exciting. And the signs, come on people! It couldn't be any clearer if it hit me over the head. This is right.

Also, tomorrow most of the Lukens are coming over for a family reunion planning committee meeting. Somehow our house got volunteered to host. So I have to go now and clean for the people. Also it is going to be a surprise party for Chip, his birthday is Sunday. So that should be fun, and I think he will be surprised. And Sunday Karen is coming over, and that is going to be really fun. We are going to ride Shadow and maybe I will saddle up Rusty as well. We will see how he behaves. So it is already 9:00 and I have a lot of cleaning to do, but, also feel like I have cleansed my soul on these pages tonight. Oh, it feels so good! What do you all think?

To all of you, my friends, best wishes and lots of love.

Cindy