No. 143: Girls And Dogs

Girls with Sam, February 2012

My kids never had a big vacation.  We went to Ocean City once, before the youngest, Emily, was in grade school. She's 20 and a college sophomore now. Kara's 23 and a nurse.
Their daddy worked a lot, had weird hours, put his money into two houses and reliable cars.
I thought I was going places but was really going nowhere, staying put, a homebody.
What my kids did have, and still have, are pets galore. Turtles, lizards, cats and -- most especially -- dogs.

Girls with Sam, 1996

I took a lot of photos of the girls when they were young, staying home and going zero and all.
Inevitably a dog would get involved in the action, tripling the cute. Every now and then a pose would present itself for a portrait.
Sam came from people in Newton Falls who were selling Shepherd-Lab puppies for $50. The 1996 drawing of Sam, Kara and Emily, above, was done on a picnic table during a summer vacation, at home.

Girls with Hank, 2000

By 2000, Sam had sadly gone and Hank had moved into our hearts. I bought him out of the back of a station wagon in a hardware store parking lot, $300 cash. He was a big, sweet chocolate chunk of Labrador retriever, so gorgeous.
Hank made his way into many photos, but the drawing above is a morphing of two or three images. Neither girl likes this picture, and maybe they are right: Kara looks like she's sprouting from Hank's body while Emily rests on his butt.
I think it's cute, even if Kara looks vaguely oriental.

Girls with Bella, 2009

Bella showed up right before Hank died: an angry tan tank of a dog, a pug-beagle mix brought home by Kara. She shelled out her own cash to buy her from a breeder, but everyone wanted her to go after about three weeks of Puggle madness, and troubled housebreaking.
I put my foot down and made sure she stayed. You make a commitment, you keep it. At least my kids got that from me.
This picture has its flaws but looks "happy." It's hung in a stairway.

Kara and Corleone, 2010

Hank lived a long 13 years and when he was gone, Bella was alone and I was lonely. I wanted another big dog in the worst way and had always wanted a German Shepherd.  Emily waited eight months and unloaded $500 on Corleone; she sent Kara to the breeders to pick him up.
It was love at first sight.
No one really asked, "Dad, can we keep him?" like the drawing says. That was never in question, as far as I'm concerned.
This drawing was actually re-drawn (or drawn over) late in 2011. Kara is impossible to draw; none of my sketches really capture her.  This version looks better than the original -- though Emily says her sister looks "like a corpse" here.
The women here are a tough crowd.

Emily and Corleone, 2010

I have better luck drawing Emily.  The drawing above is appropriately titled, "The Gift."  This drawing is universally loved in the household. Really it needs no further description.

All of this brings us back to Emily, Kara and Sam, drawn in February 2012 from a photograph that I'd hidden away after his death. Again I had the worst time with Kara, and even Emily.  They're squinting in the sun, and Sam's tongue is tickling Emily's face.

 
It turns out that this drawing really was completed by Emily. She took hold of the pencils and eraser and worked over the eyes and hairlines, added the eyebrows and made the faces look less flat.
I was impressed, and pleased that my tuition costs are paying off: She's studying art education at Kent State University.
Tonight, she taught me a little something.

Buy your kids a dog, or four. There are no sweeter memories.