Live Life Every Day

Our dog Flair passed away in June of this year. I didn't tell many people or post about it on here. It was just too hard. We were heartbroken and still are. Our dogs are part of our family and it's just not the same without him around. He was the toughest dog ever. He was 14 years old. The fuckin' Keith Richards of dogs. He came so close so many times but always pulled out of it. He had diabetes the last four years of his life and had to get two shots of insulin a day and eat a very strict diet. Chris Hatfield is the only other person besides my wife and I (and her step-dad one time) who ever gave Flair his shots. Thanks again, Chris. I can't imagine how stressful that was. Even in the end, they gave him a week to live and he made it more than two. Flair lived every day like it was the greatest day on earth, unconditionally and happily. We miss him very much. I'd been thinking about doing the "Live Life Every Day" shirt from the Ken Schneider benefit a couple years ago, but it seemed wrong somehow to sell a shirt that was originally put out to help a friend in need. Flair's passing shed new light on the idea and I came up with this...
It's not 100% dialed yet, but I can finally write about Flair on here without totally losing it. I also felt like I owed Flair a memorial on this site as I wanted to post a pic of this dude...
This is how my tweaked mind works. I was coming home from picking up this computer (back in business--with a once-a-day, automatic external hard drive save mode now) and was out in the sticks, when I saw a farm house with a bunch of old bikes for sale. I stopped and talked to the older guy and his wife. I asked if he had any "real old BMX bikes" and of course, got the run-around: "how much would you pay for one?" "Depends on what it is, of course, but I would pay good money for the right thing" "I have hundreds of bikes, but none put together right now. You can't find parts for those old bikes is the problem" "I would just buy the frame or wheels if it were the right thing" This went on for a while and wasn't going anywhere anyway. And then I noticed the dogs. I started talking to the wife about them and it finally came down to me asking if she had any "black and tans" (like Flair). Flair was a Miniature Pinscher (MinPin) and these dogs were MinPin Chihuahua mixes. There were little dogs everywhere (the guy likes bikes and the lady likes little dogs, I guess). She pointed to one, "Jr." and told me about him. He was lying down in the shade and very chilled out. I asked how much and told her I would think about it.
Keep in mind we were not even considering "replacing" Flair, that's not even the deal here at all. You can't replace loved ones. But this guy was already "Junior" and he kind of looked like Flair (and a mix of a couple of our other dogs of the past). I left and thought about Jr. all day yesterday and into today. I didn't mention him to my wife because she is a rational person and would talk me out of it. I had to go to the post office and run some errands and would be half way to where Jr. was located. I flipped a coin. "heads I go get him, tails I don't". Tails. "Best two out of three" I told myself and flipped another tails. Threw the penny out the window and took off. An hour later I had him in the backyard, waiting for my wife and boys to get home. He was great in the car but once I put him in the yard he wouldn't let me near him. He kept running away and had me chasing him all over. I left him out there and went inside. The crew came in and I took Noah to the window "Look over there" I pointed. "Flair!" Noah said, which was just too much. I lost it. I didn't expect that from him but of course he doesn't understand. Gail came out and said she thought she saw something in the backyard. Meanwhile, this guy was running around, trying to figure out what was going on. She had a rough day at work and this lifted her spirits for sure. So yeah, "Jr." is part of the crew now. Not necessarily Flair Jr. but maybe. And ironically, Flair was named that when we got him from the rescue agency. The name had nothing to do with BMX tricks, he just had a lot of "flair". Jr. looks like a shrunken down big dog. Doesn't weigh an ounce over ten pounds though.