Four paws less

Riley's on vacation.

Without me and Jeffrey. He's on vacation in New York with his best girl buddy, Agave, and his favorite auntie Dory. Jeffrey and I will be in the Bahamas for the entire week and needed Dory to take Riley. It turned out that Dory had plans to go to NY for the weekend and would not be back until the day after we would both be gone. She enthusiastically volunteered to take Riley with her, as he could keep Agave company while she tended to some family business. In addition, Riley will get to meet a Border Collie and a Pug. Such is the Life of Riley! Needless to say, I was relieved. Riley loves Dory and Agave.

On Thursday, I drove Riley to Beaverbrook to meet up with them so that the dogs could run their YaYa's out before their long car ride. We arrived a few minutes before them. When Riley spotted their car, he began to churtle his special "I'M SO EXCITED I CAN HARDLY CONTAIN MYSELF" sound. As we prepared to depart, I transfered Riley's overnight bag with about 12 pounds of raw meat and bones into her car. Riley had watched me pack his entire bag: two towels, two toys, doggie biscuits for both of them, two rec bones to share, and all of his food. He promptly jumped right into her car and laid down in the back seat. As I pulled away, I looked to see if Riley would be watching me from the window, concerned that we had arrived together, but were leaving separately. Nope. He was too busy wrestling with Agave over her squeeky toy.

As I drive home I call Jeffrey. Our voices are drawn out and our tone is heavy.

"I miss him"

"Me too"

I start to panic about arriving home and having no one to hug and cuddle and play with. There will be no stampeed coming down the stairs to greet me. No crazy tail flying around in the air. No sweet, smiling face to say, "hello! I've been waiting for you!" And even though I am thoroughly conscious of the fact that my Riley will not be home, I am still struck by the silence when I arrive home. The house still has 12 paws running around (Well, okay, MeiMei's paws don't do that much running, but whatever) but there is a sad, sad emptiness. Riley is a family member. His presence is always so prominent in our lives. Without him, our house does not quite feel like home.