Dustin and I packed up our Prius full of animals and new material goods acquired on our vacation, and headed back to Oregon today. It was sad, we didn’t want to leave San
Diego, much less California–our sunny homeland. School calls yet again, however, and here we are, back in Eugene and its 30-degree weather.

The saddest part of today, however, was not me leaving my parents’ comforting home –it was when I had to say my goodbyes to my parent’s kitties Winky and Blinky and most especially, my good friend Baby Boy. As I took Pom Pom to the car, and then Casper, Baby Boy had the saddest look in his eyes when I returned back into the house and didn’t take him to the car too. He actually started barking (Baby Speak for “We’re going out!”) when I went back into the house…and I had to break the bad news to him.

I sat down on the floor with Baby and petted him for a few minutes. I was so sad — Baby loves it when his canine companions come to visit! Sure, he gets a little cranky when Pom is hyper and waving her tail in his face and Casper can get too playful sometimes, but I know he loves having the company and they keep him feeling young.

I always hate the goodbye part of visiting home, and I especially hate saying goodbye to Baby because I can’t explain to him why the other doggies are going, but he’s not! I know I’m totally humanizing the process and Cesar Milan would yell at me for treating dogs like human babies, but I can’t help feeling bad anyway! The best I can do is sit on the floor with him, and pet and hug him lots, and give him many kisses on his head while he gives me kisses on my face.