Starting some Goodbyes

I have to admit I am feeling a little sad as I write this post. Some of the sadness is not involved at all with the upcoming move, but some of it is.

As I am writing this post tonight, there is a U-Haul trailer attached to my truck sitting in the driveway. Tomorrow marks the day my son leaves Wisconsin to pursue his future. He begins law school at IU/McKinney this fall. George decided two years ago that his future involved being an attorney. His goal now is to work for the Federal Government, in a financial law capacity. Something with the SEC, or another branch he can use the economics he studied during his undergraduate career.

His moving has me feeling lots of different emotions. I am sad that he is leaving, but happy he is going back to the other state I call home. He will be about an hour and a half from my parents, so in some ways he will be closer to family than when he was studying at Madison. My son has often made me proud. He started cub scouts in first grade, and soon said he wanted to be an Eagle Scout. He was the only one of his friends that stuck it out, and he earned his Eagle the fall of his Senior year of High School. He has a good head on his shoulders, and I know he will be fine whatever road he decides to travel. This move would have been happening even if Julie and I were not moving overseas, but it is still hard. I understand now what my parents went through when I graduated college, and started out on my own.

So tonight I say goodbye to my son. I guess not so much goodbye as see you soon.

I know I have written before about my daughter’s cat coming to Zurich with us. Well we also have a dog. After a lot of hard decision making, we decided we really can’t take the dog with us. The move would be hard, but our apartment is much smaller than our house, and it doesn’t have a yard, We also want to travel as much as possible, and travel is pretty easy with a cat, not so much a dog. Julie has an Aunt that lives in Indiana, so while I am moving George. Sherlock will also be moving to Wabash, Indiana.

This picture was taken during our Memorial Day weekend camping trip. I really do like animals, but Sherlock has vexed me more than any dog we have ever owned. Unfortunately he is to smart for his own good. I was able to teach him to sit, stay, and come on command, really quickly, but I have never been able to keep him off the kitchen counters. He is a good dog while you are in the room, but the second you leave. Watch out! About the only thing he is good for, is cuddling with you. He is truly an 80 lb lap dog. Not so much with me, but the second Julie would sit down, the dog would be jumping in her lap.

He has known something is going on the last few weeks. Primarily with Julie being gone, he senses something is not right. I fully believe he knows he is leaving, because the last few days, he has not wanted to leave my side. If I sit down, his head goes in my lap, and he just wants to be touched. It makes me a little sad because I don’t want to cause stress for the dog. I know he will be well cared for, and in many ways he will be better off, but saying goodbye to a pet is never easy.

So tomorrow is see you soon to George, but Goodbye to Sherlock.