my buddy bear - luke

for christmas when i was 16, my parents gave me one of the best christmas presents EVER. on christmas morning my sister & her husband came over to my parent's house to begin the days festivities & in walks my sister with a big fluffy ball of fur in her arms with a huge red bow around her neck. i was moved to tears at 16 by this exciting gift of a golden retriever, while my sister stood behind me in tears because she had to give away this cute fluffy ball of fur that she had kept secret at her house (& i think secretly fell in love with) for the 3 days following up to christmas.

fast forward to december 31st, the sister's birthday of that same year, & in comes another big ball of fur. my parents, being the good parents that they are, in turn surprised the sister with her own golden retriever, luke. he was a crazy ball of energy, full of love, & has been such a good companion to the sister's family over the years. he was my "buddy bear" seeing that he weighs close to the weight of a bear & he loved me... we were buddies :)

yesterday was a sad day in our little family world. after 10 & 1/2 years being a part of my the sister's family, they had to say a sudden good-bye to luke. sunday was not a good day for mr. luke & by yesterday they had to make the hard decision to say good-bye to him due to an unknown heart tumor.

this picture was taken a few weeks ago in the mountains & my sister sent it to me & titled it "the tennis ball standoff" luke LOVED his tennis balls, but he kindly *read:lucy was sneaky & stole it* let lucy play with his ball. then he proceeded to follow her around to try & get it back from her. our dogs {luke, lily, & lucy} are part of our family. they are our fur babies & so we said a sad good-bye to a member of our family yesterday.

luke will be missed!!

love you buddy bear!

-aw