The grief I have felt over losing our dog, Ricki, has taken me by surprise and, taken me longer than I expected to get over.

It took me about 6 weeks but I finally washed her bedding, folded up her crate and put it away.

When memories pop-up on Facebook or Timehop the ache re-surfaces and I miss her all over again.

One particularly poignant moment occurred when all three of my men – meaning my husband and teenagers – went out of town at the same time.  I was getting into bed that first night and realized that Ricki wasn’t there to warn me if someone broke in during the night.  And, since her sidekick, Lucy, is deaf I knew she would sleep through any potential trouble.

Little things and moments still occur to remind me of the loss and, at those times, it surprises me how much I miss her sweet face.

When I saw today’s daily prompt – shallow – the first thing I thought of was Ricki playing in the water.  She loved to run straight into lakes or creeks, swim out a little then come back and play in the shallow water.

But, I can’t really discount the joy of running in shallow snow, either. Nothing like a little wintry weather in Texas to get us excited and hyped up.

Finally, just because this picture makes me laugh I’m including it.  In what turned out to be her last ‘photo shoot’ I got an image of what looks like Ricki smiling but, the grandkids looking a little picture-weary.