Good Morning Corky!
I don’t need to tell you how much I miss you – you’re in every tear I cry and breath I take. I guess what I miss the very most is you keeping me warm in bed at night. Oleo misses that too! She seems to be plugging along okay and Stormy is exceptionally bratty with her lately. Maybe Oleo welcomes that as a distraction. I vaguely remember the day we met. It was in Rota, Spain and our landlord, Raphael knew of someone who no longer wanted their puppy. When Rob & I went to your house, we found that they had been keeping you in a cardboard box on the balcony. You were so cute – I fell in love right away! It was November of 1995. You hair was wet from the rain and you had a brown circle of hair around your left eye. Your tail curled right up your back like a corkscrew and flipped from side to side more than it wagged. It took me a couple of days to come up with a name that was so obvious to everyone else.
Rota is mostly concrete and brick so we didn’t have much of a yard to speak of. However, you and Booby (the little black neighbor dog) had no trouble finding some dirt to dig in! One of my favorite pictures is of you in the tub, covered in mud. You thought it was fun to try and catch the water before it ran down the drain. What a little beggar you were too. We learned that you’d twirl and dance for us on your back legs while we ate. I also taught you to lie on your back after I asked you, “where’s your belly?” Then there was “dead dog” which was funny because you’d drop to the floor on your side. Such talent!
The next year for Christmas, Dino the Rottweiler came into our lives – much to your dismay. I think you tolerated her for our sake and I thank you for that. You were just as happy being the only child. She stayed small enough for you to run the show for a little while. Once she was big enough to take over though, you were still the boss. We finally moved in to a house on-base and you were able to experience some grass. It was so foreign to you that you tip-toed through the yard! When you chased the ball you leaped so far and high it was like you were trying to just hover over that pokey green stuff. When you were used to it though it was all I could do to keep you from turning into a goat. We never really needed a lawnmower.
We soon discovered that you had some allergies. Only after many sleepless and terrifying nights of you snorting non-stop like you were having an asthma attack. That must have been especially scary to you. I remember waking a Spanish vet late one night and trying to explain what was happening. How comical our body language must have been to you but he got it figured out and you were better after that.