Guys gone home

Joey's brother, Bear, and Happy have gone home.
Joe and Bear are from the same litter and Ed owned Happy before he and Amanda were married.
We dogsat for Ed and Amanda while they were in San Diego.
They deplaned about 1 a.m. Friday and arrived at our house about 2 a.m. to pick up the dogs.
Joe wasn't letting the other dogs sleep (he has been the instigator since he was born) so Linda put him in his cage.
Ed and Amanda took the dogs home before we let Joe out of his cage.
He looked everywhere for them.
It was like he was saying, "What are you some freakin' magicians? What did you do with Happy and Bear?"
He looked and sniffed everywhere in the house, even under our bed (as if Labrador Retrievers could get under our bed.)
We kept telling him they went home. He seemed sad at first but the next morning we were back to our ritual.
I split a pack of strawberry Pop-Tarts with him and he got to ride in the car to Terre Haute with me this morning. So, life is back to normal and he seems happy to be the only dog in our family again.

Losing people

It sounds really maudlin but we lost another one Tuesday.
Doug Hunt, who was a reporter for Crawfordsville's Journal Review passed away Tuesday afternoon.
It wasn't unexpected. Doug had been in poor health since before I met him in 1994. But Doug's health issues didn't make his passing any easier.
Writing the story of his passing fell to me and I'm afraid I may have botched it, despite my best effort.
My editor called to say I forgot to mention Doug had died in the story. I guess I was still hoping to find out reports of his death were premature.
I also wrote a column about the Doug I knew and I'm afraid it was too sentimental. I trust Jay Heater's managing editor magic to save both pieces.
Like Yogi Berra, I am feeling deja vu all over again.
When we moved to Elkhart many years ago, my wife said, "Now I can get to know your family." Within a few years my aunt and a cousin (who had been like a brother to me) had died.
I looked forward to returning to Montgomery County, Indiana, last year for many reasons, primarily family and friends but also to work with people like Doug.
I knew Joe Jarvis was too ill to work but Joe and I stayed in touch through e-mail and an occasional visit in his home. Then he called me to his bedside when he was a patient at St. Clare Medical Center before he passed away. I knew Harvey Keller was ill but we had opportunity to laugh together a few times before he passed away.
I admire Doug, Joe and Harvey for their contributions to the community and to my life in their various ways. Doug was a newspaperman. Joe and Harvey were radio guys.
When we moved back to Montgomery County in 1994, I was leaving the full time ministry and I remember someone asking, "What will you do now?"
I knew it would "work out" by God's grace.
It's been a wonderful and at times a bumpy ride in the past 15 years. I am privileged to have been an observer, reporter and for six years an editor, watching the passing parade.
I hope I can leave something in my wake when I am gone. Those three gentlemen certainly left me an example to follow.