Pal

Pal, our sweet yellow Lab, died this week.

She was hit by a car late Monday night. We had a funeral Tuesday afternoon. We all said something we loved about Pal, and each child laid a dog biscuit on her grave. Then we sang a song and found some big, pretty, red rocks to mark her grave. She was a special dog, a good friend to all of us. Pal was the gentlest, calmest Labrador Retriever I have ever known.

Three of the photos that follow are snapshots of pictures in one of our memory books. Pal was such a tiny thing when we got her in June 1997! Bryan named her for Pal, the dog that Arthur has in the Arthur series on PBS. After a few weeks, she was no longer tiny and Bryan, who had just turned 5, could not figure out why she couldn't look like

Arthur's dog forever.

Bryan training Pal

Is the baby gate keeping J.T. in, or keeping Pal out?

J.T. was just 11 months old when Pal came to our house.

Just 4 months after that first picture! Look closely: Don't you love that tongue?

This was taken in 2002, when John was overseas on his first trip. Bryan and JT are on the big swing that John put in the enormous tree at the end of the driveway. This is John's favorite picture from that time, showing the love of Pal for our boys.

What a sweet, loving dog.