Nicolas

I scanned in a photo Mom had of me and my old dog Nicolas when he was a puppy. Nicolas was my third real failure as a friend. Maybe fourth if you include my failure to stand up for myself time and time again.

I think about him every Christmas when I pull out this tiger ornament which is a duplicate of one I had when Nicolas lived with me. He'd chewed it up and I got so mad at him, partly from that and partly from how desperately he needed me. I soon afterwards dumped him on my mom. It wasn't fair to him - he was a puppy and he loved me. But it was right after David and I couldn't handle anyone needing me that much.

He later got hit by a truck at mom's house.

But some happy memories -> he used to love to bury things he thought were valuable even when he couldn't bury them. Mom would give him rawhides and he was inside where he couldn't dig a hole, so he would wait til no one was watching and then he'd sneak into the living room and hide them in the potted plants or behind the curtains. And he had the cutest tail that wagged of any dog I've ever seen. If he was playing tug of war with you, you could forget winning. Scottie dogs definitely have locking jaws.