THAT TIME OF THE YEAR




















On Grace's first birthday a professional photographer took her picture along with pictures of three of us . . . dogs included.

Grace is going to be six in November marking the sixth year this "tradition" has continued.

Last year the setting was in the Watson Gym . .. a facility named in my honor for achieving a feat that no other school district superintendent had been able to do: Find resources to construct a 30,000 square foot school facility complete with a fully equipped gymnasium.

Serving as project manager for the facility along with being superintendent of the school district nearly killed me off.

Anyway, here we are one year almost to the day for Grace's fifth birthday photographs.












During the photo shoot Grace attempted to teach Jilli and Zoe the fine art of listening to a story she's reading.

Being finely trained dogs, both pups were most attentive even though all they heard from Grace was blah, blah, blah, good dogs, blah, blah, blah, want more treats?




















It was my idea to begin the tradition of having a professional take pictures on the occasion of Grace's birthday. What better way to chronicle every year of Grace's life as she progresses towards adulthood? This is a suggestion that has worked for us and one that I would recommend to anyone.





















The bitter sweet of last year's "shoot" were pictures of Jill, the larger of the two Poms in our family. . . some of the last photos that we have of her. Jill died most unexpectedly in January 2008 . . . an event that I have not yet reconciled in my heart nor in my mind. She was one of a kind . . . a dog, a soul who will always be remembered to those who knew her and who will always be in the hearts and minds of our family.

She was one of us.

Losing Jilli nine months after the fact later still stings deeply. . . . more than I ever thought that losing a dog would.