Lovingly,
Harley McGuire

Stopped at a busy intersection’s traffic light, an eagle-eyed neighbor noticed a box in the median that seemed to be moving and worried by its unknown content pulled over and walked back to investigate. Thus began the life journey of two lice covered, desperately in need of vet care, newborn labrador retriever pups. During a visit with the rescuing neighbor and meeting the two new-found pups in need of homes or pound bound, five earnest beggers ranging in age from 15 to 5 began a coordinated assault on four adamantly opposed parents whose combined NO WAY ON THIS EARTH became MAYBE IF YOUR FATHERS WILL AGREE to a resigned OKAY BUT ONLY IF YOU–and the tossaway pups found homes, side by side, with an eventual single fence around co-joined backyards to give plenty of running space for growing labs and chasing children. Five children learned to scoop poop, walk a dancing dog in snow/wind/rain, and the two sets of parents that NEVER intended to have a dog in the house or even in the yard learned to cope with masses of shedding black dog hair, the occasional chewed furniture piece, accidents on antique rugs, and holes dug in the middle of landscaped lawns. Now all eleven members of our families cannot fathom the day when there will be no black lab to scold off the couch, or to lay a head on while crying…so, to all the Harley’s, the Mandy and Cole’s, the Inoch and Sadie’s, the countless pets who taught us not to take ourselves or our possessions so importantly, and to act with humor and grace while being licked in the face or sniffed in the behind, we love you. To those of you who never wanted a pet, or to those of you who feel that replacing a pet who left with a piece of your heart will be too difficult, we ask that you reconsider. Thanks, Harley, for letting us share our happy-ever-after story.