Stepping Up To the Plate

I am still having a hard time with losing Rocco but it is getting a bit easier. I think I'll miss him until the day I die but I have noticed that little dog, Ollie, and littlest cat, Isabella, are stepping in to cover the breach. It is rather endearing but it tends to make my heart hurt more.

Isabella, or Bella, has taken to sleeping on the end of the bed. If I'm up late reading or on the computer, she's right there curled up to me but she moves to the end of the bed when the lights go out. Josh said that I was awake the other night and the bedroom door was closed and Bella was giving him hell trying to get him to let her into the room. When I break down and start to cry she comes running to get into my lap and pat my face. Sort of a 'there there' kind of pat.

Ollie, on the other hand, followed me into the craft room, to stare at me while I ate my sandwich. Rocco always wanted what I was eating and I always left him a piece. Ollie never begged r followed me around but now he's my shadow. So there we are, in the craft room, with Ollie staring at me as if he had to have just a taste of that or he would die. It was cute and funny and distressing all at once and so I begged him to please let me eat first. Well, Ollie didn't leave the room. He did, however look away from me with that, I don't care what you're doing ploy except he kept looking at me out of the corner of his eye as if to make certain I didn't pull a fast one and eat the whole sandwich myself. He's now, also the designated barker and heaven help you if you dare to slam a car door or drive a UPS or Fed Ex truck up the street. Just because the big boy is gone, doesn't mean vigelance is at an end. There's little dog Ollie to contend with. And he's going to remind you of that fact.

But on the heart breaking side. Ollie is still hiding his chews and his toys as if someone else might get the toys and rip the squeaker out of it. Ollie always greets me with something in his mouth and, the other day, on a whim, I gave him the cardboard toilet paper roll that he has taken to carrying around with him as if it is a treasure beyond measure. But what hurt the most is the bone Josh brought home last night. A bone nearly the side of Ollie who only looked at it puzzled and then let it be. I couldn't help but think that Rocco would have fallen on it and not let up until he had chewed away a great hunk of it. I fear that this bone will become fossilized before Ollie is finished with it.

So Ollie and Bella are doing their best. Gotta love the little ones trying to fill awfully big shoes. I wonder when I will be able to see who is there and not looking for who is missing.