Well blogging once a week I guess was a bit aggressive... I did make a list of stuff to write about but still struggling through it. Here is a light weight entry just to keep things going...
2017 was largely a pretty crap year. We started the year with great optimism as we were expecting our first child and daughter Brooklyn. After Brooklyn passed away on February 20th, 2017 we had no idea what to do and how we would get through the grief. My wife had grown up with dogs and we had always talked about getting one down the road. Our hearts were broken and we needed something to love, we thought getting a dog sooner than planned would help fill the void.
The breed we wanted was a Labrador retriever, black in colour and female. We also planned to run away for a while and hoped to be able to take a dog home when we returned to reality. After almost a week of contacting every breeder west of Ontario and the northern United States we finally found a puppy meeting our criteria/timeline in Salmon Arm, BC. It was a good feeling having something to look forward to.
Next step was to come up with a name. We happened to watch Casino Royale (James Bond) days after finding the puppy and when we heard the "Bond" girl's name of Vesper we both knew the decision was made.
We picked Vesper up shortly after returning from Australia. She has been a life saver, something to care for and teach as well as giving us a reason to leave our home. She also gave me something to take pictures of. Her birthday is also February 21, the day after Brooklyn left us and in a way they seem tied together.
Vesper is now 11 months old. Here are some of my favourite images of her.