Zoey loves to sleep on the bed with me. She doesn’t always stay on the bed all night. She moves around at times, looking for a more comfortable position.
I have photos of both of them sleeping on the bed; but this one of Zoey is by far my favorite. So sweet, so innocent and trusting, so angelic. 😇 Certainly “awww worthy” for the weekly Awww Monday blog hop!
Have a great day and a great week everyone! Zen and Zoey will probably be keeping me busy with their antics both inside the house and out in the back yard all. week. long.
These two – still being in the months between puppyhood and adulthood – love their “wrastling” (hubby’s word) matches, in the house or out in the back yard. Personally, here inside the house I prefer the peace and quiet afforded by their restful moments. 🥰😉
Welcome to Wordless Wednesday! Or, Wordy Wednesday, or Whatever Wednesday.
Gotcha Days are always special and we celebrate them at our house twice a year. But Zen actually had two different Gotcha Days; and today is the second anniversary of the second one……
July 22nd, 2022, was the day that Zen came home (from his original home) to stay with me for good.
Welcome Home Zen-Zen!!
During the time between his first Gotcha Day of May 14th, 2022, and this second one, my poor Zen puppy spent many days hiding in a corner of our kitchen while his “HuDaddy” battled his dementia demons. Thankfully, he also spent even more days safe in the care of his breeder/Grandpa, his birth mama, auntie, and three cousins (as well as his Grandpa’s sister, daughter, and friends). Sam’s demons made my poor boy so nervous. And they made me fearful of a repeat of Bogie’s last day on earth. And when Sam was admitted to the hospital that last time, “Grandpa” once again took Zen home with him so I could get the house in order while also visiting Sam as much as possible.
As a four-month-old puppy, Zen at first was a little nervous being here again. After his Grandpa left to go home that afternoon, Zen spent nearly half an hour looking for him. And each time we went to the back door, Zen would first go to the front door hoping to see Grandpa walk through it. And he nervously looked around for signs of the demons for a few days before he finally felt completely safe.
Two years later, my boy is still and always will be my anchor on stormy seas, my sunshine every day, my pot-o-gold on this side of the rainbow, my leprechaun, and my soul-dog-in-training (Ducky’s protégé).
These two pups are the loves of my current life. They complete my seconds, minutes, hours, days.
They heal the emptiness in my life since Ducky joined her brothers and sisters at the Rainbow Bridge.
They soothe the loneliness in my life created when their human Dad was freed of his dementia demons and his physical aches and pains. While it will never be completely gone, at least it doesn’t hurt as much when my Z Kids are around.
Zoey, my brother, and I took a drive up to Zoey’s and Zen’s Grandpa’s house on Sunday morning to spend some time visiting with him and our Golden family before bringing Zen home from his “vacation.”
When I texted him to say we were about to leave, Chuck texted me back teasingly saying that Zen had overheard him telling one of his pups that “Zen is going home today” and promptly jumped into the golf cart and ran away. 🤣🤣 (Doug read me the text while I was driving. I don’t read and drive.)
We humans had a nice visit while we watched Zen and Zoey play with their moms, and their older cousins/siblings.
Once we were home and back in the house after stretching our legs in the back yard, Zen and Zoey shared a sweet moment of “so happy you’re/I’m home!”
Reunited!
Since that moment, the three of us have spent countless happy moments together. Zoey and I missed our boy so much while she was healing from her surgery two weeks ago! Zen was probably having too much fun with his Grandpa, mama, auntie, and three cousins to miss us very much (though Chuck did say he spent most of that first afternoon looking for me once I left to come home).
I’m just happy to have my boy home again! And grateful to have such a wonderful friend in the pups’ breeder (and “Grandpa”)! He always takes such good care of all three of us when we need his help! I couldn’t ask for a better friend/other brother!!
So much for “Wordless Wednesday”! In this case I guess I should call it “Wordy Wednesday”!
This is indeed the best Father’s Day I’ve had in a long time! 💙🩵💙
My Zoey has healed beautifully – the incision looks great and the surgical glue has dried/been absorbed/whatever it does to become invisible – so I took the surgical recovery suit off of her this morning. Now it can be washed and put away until it’s needed by another family member.
Good time for a rest
My big boy Zen is home, too! And it feels wonderful to have him here! I have my little family back together again, the way we should be.
He loves his half a tennis ball!
When we got home from visiting with their Grandpa, we all got some water and went back outside for a little bit of fetch. But 10 minutes of that hot, humid air was about all this dog mom could stand. So, we’re back inside chilling out in the air-conditioned house.
Zoey’s happy to have Zen home, too!
Tomorrow and Tuesday are Zen’s 27-Month and Zoey’s 21-Month birthdays respectively. Friday (the 14th) was their mutual monthly Gotcha Day. Where have the months gone??!
January 14, 2022 was the worst day of my life, of all our – Sam’s, Ducky’s, and my brother’s – lives. And, to be honest, the first day of the worst year of my life. It was the day my sweet Bogie got his angel wings. And it was the day that my sweet Ducky’s heart broke irreparably. That sweet, loving, adorable boy. Just thinking about how it happened still brings a flood of tears – the bitter part of my memories. All I can do is thank God for allowing Sam and me to be his human parents and Ducky to be his “big sister” for his short life.
How could you not love that face?!
I will always miss this boy. He loved snuggling with me, and I loved snuggling with him. Bogie was the reason why I decided to get another “baby brother” for Ducky as soon as I could, which leads me to the sweet part of my memories…
A few days after Bogie got his wings, I called our friend and Bogie’s “Grandpa Chuck” and told him “I want another baby brother for Ducky. I’ll send you a check tomorrow.” Even though Ducky’s broken heart earned her her own angel wings a month later, I knew she would pick the perfect puppy for us. And she did….
4-Week-Old Zen
This adorable little smudge muzzle was born on March 17, 2022 but even before then he became my sunshine boy. Sam’s dementia took nearly total control of him after Ducky got her wings; and the only thing I felt I had to smile about was knowing I would soon have another puppy to love on and be loved by. So Zen became my sunshine. When he was born, I decided his Gotcha Day would have to be on the monthly anniversary of Bogie’s passing. I needed a happy event to balance the tragic one. So Sam and I brought Zen home on May 14th.
After Ducky passed, I knew Zen would eventually need a playmate, and I wanted another girl. At first I wasn’t sure I could deal with two puppies and Sam. I kept wondering out loud if I had lost my marbles somewhere along the way. But Zen was such an easy puppy once Sam was admitted to the hospital, that I stopped wondering. Shortly after Sam was admitted to the hospital, Bogie’s mama, Bailey, was mated with his daddy’s brother so I knew the chances of getting a female version of my Bogie were pretty darn good. And the chances of her being exactly six months younger than Zen were good, too. It turned out to be six months and a day, but that’s close enough. So the second sweet part of my memories came into my life….
Baby Zoey Petunia at about 6 weeks.
Look at that foot in the water bowl! To this day, she thinks water is for more than just drinking, just like Bogie! And Zoey’s Gotcha Day became November 14th, exactly six months after Zen, and ten months after us losing her older genetic brother. And, oh my doG, does she ever remind me of Bogie! She looks just like him and she acts just like him. She is a snuggle bunny just like Bogie was; and she’s sassy with Zen like Bogie was with Ducky.
So, as bitter as the memories are of losing sweet Bogie that awful day two years ago, at least his younger cousin and sister provide me with extra sweet memories for counterbalance. And truthfully Bogie’s not gone. He’s here every day, along with Ducky and their human daddy. I just can’t see him or love on him.
Since this past Tuesday was also Zen’s (half-year) Gotcha Day – he’s been with me for 18 months – it’s only fitting that I should give him his own post on Thankful Thursday.
Zen and I have been through so much together in his short lifetime…his human daddy’s dementia and subsequent last months at home and then his passing; my relief and grief over my human soulmate’s passing; all the repair jobs that have had to be done on and in the house; and then the first holidays without hubby, Ducky, and Bogie. And my dear, sweet boy helping me raise his little sister. Then he guided me through his angel brother/cousin Bogie’s first anniversary in Heaven; Bogie’s, hubby’s, and Ducky’s first birthdays in Heaven; and then Ducky’s first anniversary in Heaven. And my own little health scare, which thankfully turned out to be minor and easily resolved.
That’s A LOT to go through in the span of a year and a half! But my boy got me through all of it. He has been here for me through thick and thin. Just as his mentor, Ducky, was all those years before and would have been if she could have. But in truth, she was here in spirit … mentoring and helping Zen to help me as she would have done. ❤️🩹❤️🩹
Zen is my sunshine boy. My leprechaun (he, like his birth mama, was born on St. Patrick’s Day), my huggy-bear, my earthbound guardian angel with paws, my helper. And while he is maturing into a calm adult, he is still very much a puppy when playing with his little sister.
I thank Ducky every day for picking Zen out for me…she knew exactly which of Bogie’s baby cousins would be perfect for her grieving mama.
How is it even possible that you’ve been here with Zen and me for a full year already?! Here you are that first night home …
Getting to know each other
I still remember trying to will you and your littermates to be born the day before you actually were … I wanted you and Zen to be exactly six months apart. Oh well, at least I could make your Gotcha Days six months apart.
Oh, those puppy teeth!
You’ve been growing physically and emotionally; but you’re still very much a puppy with all that energy. You keep Zen and me on our toes, for sure! Now that you can hold your own against Zen, you have wrestling matches that admittedly make me nervous at times.
You Reap What You Sow, Zoey
Zoey had been pestering Zen earlier in the day, so when he started in on her, I started recording. Zen is so tolerant, so patient with her most of the time. I love when he gives it back to her.
My Little Girl’s Not So Little Now
The more I look at Zoey, the more I see Bogie in her eyes and heart. She just looks and acts SO MUCH like her older angel brother! It’s really uncanny. Maybe God sent Bogie back to me in Zoey to give him a second chance at life? I don’t know; but it sure feels that way at times. She’s a lovebug, a sweet, sassy lovebug, and I’m glad Ducky and Bogie sent her to Zen and me!! 💜💜💜💜
HAPPY 1st GOTCHA DAY ZOEY! We love you, little one!!
It’s hard to believe that this sweet, loving, precious angel-with-paws was born a year ago today! And it’s hard to believe that she was once this small….
Zoey & Siblings 2 Days Old
I remember trying to “will” her to be born the day before, on Zen’s half-year birthday, so I’d have another pair of puppies born exactly six months apart. Well, one day’s not a big deal. 😊
Long-time readers may (or may not) remember that my first two Golden babies were born exactly six months apart…Callie on April 16, 2004 and Shadow on October 16, 2004. (And their Gotcha Days were also exactly 6 months apart, June 7th and Dec. 7th.) But I’m drifting here, so back to Zoey.
This sweet little girl has brought Zen and me so much joy! She’s just what we needed…Zen needed a playmate and I needed another little girl, but one who would snuggle with me like her angel-brother Bogie used to. My two Z Kids bonded right from the start into a mutual adoration society.
Zoey’s First Night Home
And as she grew, big brother Zen let her climb all over him…
💚 Sibling Love 💜
Zoey still climbs all over her brother and loves to curl up and snuggle with him….
❤️🐾🐾❤️
Happy First Birthday my sweet and sassy little girl! Zen and I love you to the end of the universe and back! You complete our little family. Today is your day. Thankfully the sun is shining again after yesterday’s rain made Zen’s half-year birthday kinda gloomy – weather-wise only – so we can spend time playing in the sunshine like we all love to do. ☀️☀️☀️
in my heart 4ever 