Ruff-Ruff

In December of 2002, Noah turned a year old. A few weeks after that, we received a package from my Aunt Marge. It contained two stuffed animals, a brown dog and a green bear. Lucas immediately chose the green bear and we handed the dog to Noah.

The dog has not left his side since that day.

Ruff-ruff has become a part of Noah. He is now tattered, torn and missing some of his insides, but still Noah loves him. He wakes up in the morning, grabs Ruff-ruff and heads downstairs. He watches tv with him, he goes in the car with us and, most importantly, Ruff-ruff goes to bed with Noah every night. We've even been told that Ruff-ruff is talking to him (or to us!).

I keep thinking that one day, soon, Ruff-ruff will be packed away with other memories of childhood. But, so far, that is not happening.

I guess until that day, we'll still be hunting Ruff-ruff at bedtime every night and watching Noah as he rubs Ruff's tail on his nose while watching tv.

And I'll make mental photographs so that one day, when I'm old and wrinkled and yearning for days of noise and activities, I can look back through my memories and remember my sweet boy and his best doggie friend.