Another Family

I've got my birth family, my old old friends, my old church family, old classmates from kindergarten to high school and then there are college friends. There is Ohio family and friends, Mesa Verde and Colorado family and friends, my adoptive family, the Wilkeys, all the pets I've ever had and all the co-workers I've been around over my working life.

Kids that I've worked with in the school district and through other organizations remain among my favorite people to see and talk to on those rare occasions we meet, and finally, the pets I've gotten to watch as a pet sitter. Yesterday I had the distinct pleasure of substitute teaching in a couple classrooms at Axtell Park, another of my families, where I was teaching kids who had been at Longfellow Elementary when I worked there in '06-'07. Some of them I had spent lots of time with, and that was a sweet experience. I was grateful for the interconnection.

This is Girty, and she's a pretty reserved dog, a mix of Blue Healer and Basset Hound. She isn't one to jump on my lap, or be too happy and playful with me, but she's also not unfriendly or mean. She's a dog I get to watch on a new job I have - pet sitting for some folks from Dell Rapids, SD. I love the menagerie - four dogs, two cats, two fish and two pigs. I felt like I was a real farmer. I love the animals, and am glad to get to be around them. It's such a great time - getting to chill with them at their place outside of Dells. Their people are pretty cool, too.