While summer was still with us, it brought fun and laughter. But the beginning of fall left us with tears and broken hearts.

In the beginning of the month, our local newspaper, the Tooele Transcript Bulletin, ran a two-page article about us in the Hometown section. It was a nice write up with pictures and a schedule of our events. It was a happy time.

Our book launch at the Tooele City Library was a great success. We met lots of people who supported us and bought books. The turnout was better than we expected. Surprise visits from friends and family we hadn’t seen in a long time brought smiles to our faces. And it too was a happy time.

Our second event of the month was the Petapalooza 2024 Animal Adoption Event. This was held in Murray, Utah at the Wheeler Farm. There were a lot of animal shelters from around the state that brought dogs and cats for adoption. At the end, there were 98 dogs that found their forever homes and 54 cats that found their forever homes. There was lots of fun things to do for the kids and lots of give aways from big name sponsors. All in all, there were over fifty vendors selling merchandise to animal lovers. We did well and are looking forward to participating again next year. Once again, a happy time.

Our next event was to be the Barktoberfest, another big event put on by the Humane Society of Utah. We looked forward to it, but we had an unforseen tragedy.

On our way home from Kodachrome Basin State Park, we lost our little Love Bug, Tuco. Without going into the details, I will just say we are still crying oceans of tears. There was no warning. Our hearts are broken and we’re still trying to process what happened. He was our life, our joy, our everything. Our world rotated around him. He would have been three years old this Thanksgiving. It’s so unfair that he was taken from us at such a young age. He was such a good boy who loved everyone, and everyone loved him. I want to thank everyone who gave their condolences. Your thoughtfulness and kindness means everything to us. This was the worst time.

In closing this month, I would like to share a quote with you.

“Someone once told me you may not have got to spend the rest of your life with them, but they got to spend the rest of their life with you, and there is beauty in that…”

unknown

Run free my son. Tuco, you were loved more than you will ever know. We will catch up with you soon.

May God bless you all.

Skip’s mom, Cb