I was at the airport in Atlanta, either coming or going to a convention for the tourism industry and I would hear it. I could be in the middle of the convention exhibit hall and this booming voice would yell out for everyone to hear. “My Son My Son,” the voice would call and I knew who it was. He was my black father, he was Mr. Bill Williams. It was a sight to behold, my black father calling out to his white son. It was the 70’s and Bill and I had formed a strong bond together that wasn’t always appreciated by some people.

The first time my wife met Bill was also a shock in that, I hadn’t mentioned my “father”  to her. She was very curious as this black man called out for his son in the airport approaching me. His glowing praises to her about me, assured her I’m sure that she had chosen the right husband.

Bill and I formed our relationship while creating the Chicago Chapter of the Society of Government Meeting Planners. Bill was with the Chicago Convention Bureau and I was at the Congress Hotel, as a very young sales manager focused on the government market. Bill and I had an appointment one day with a group of Military Veterans to book their convention in Chicago. Our lunch meeting turned into seven hours in the bar with these gentlemen. I don’t think I even gave them a tour of the rooms, I had to leave. But we booked them and many other conventions for the city of Chicago over the years.

Bill had somewhat retired over the last few years but he stopped by almost weekly at our bar and restaurant in Hyde Park and as always, he would exclaim to everyone (which could be up to 100 people) who I was and they should all appreciate his son and what I had done for them and the city. For that my father, I am appreciative and will never forget you. I will miss you, my friend.

I usually call home a couple of times a day. The wife almost always has me on speakerphone as she continues to do what she had been doing. Suddenly, it will start with one short bark. Then another, and if I don’t respond to Chance, our last Shih Tzu will then begin a chorus of doggie expletives until he has my attention. I acknowledge him and he barks out what I assume is him telling me “what’s been going on all day” and or “why aren’t

you home yet and when will you be here.” I then have to talk to him and explain that I’m on my way and that he’s a good boy and I will see him soon. Sometimes he may add one more comment or two, especially if he’s agitated about something. But, usually, he accepts my response and goes to lay down on his bed and accept what I have said to him.

Every day it’s the same in that he has to talk to me and hear back or he won’t stop. The wife and I cannot continue our conversation until he is satisfied that he has expressed himself properly.

Chance and Lilly were the first dogs we had ever adopted from a shelter. We believe they were between 4-5 years of age when we chose them. We were told they didn’t have a happy life and were probably caged their entire life. We think they were used by a breeder and weren’t shown any love and they really didn’t know how to interact with us.

Somehow, in the family, it was decided that Chance was my dog. Our other dogs seemed to have bonded with other family members. Though Chance really didn’t seem to be want to bond with anyone as he was a solo dog. We could feed him and take him out but, he wasn’t much of a hugger and for the most part, stayed to himself. He would occasionally play with Lilly yet even with her he was a bit standoffish.

Lilly was with us for a few short years and acquired Ketoacidosis and was gone suddenly. It didn’t seem to faze Chance, he just went on like nothing was wrong. Actually, Chance didn’t seem to show any affection towards Lilly at all. He must have had it hard before we adopted him. He was a loner and didn’t seem to want anyone. If for some reason he would follow you around the house and not leave your side it was more of him being afraid than anything else. He didn’t want to be held, he just wanted to be protected from whatever he was afraid of.

I’m kind of the same way in that I don’t express my feelings either and stay a lot to myself. Though I could use a hug now and then.

Over the last few years, Chance’s health had been getting worse. Shih Tzu’s are prone to ear infections. His infections wouldn’t go away and in fact, spread to his skin as some sort of yeast infection that would make him scratch all his fur away. He was beginning to look like one of those hairless cats or dogs. The infections were also contagious to humans and if you touched him and didn’t wash, you could have pink eye in the morning.

Jake our other Shih Tzu had seemed immune to the infection and regularly tried to groom his buddy.  Jake just passed two weeks ago and Chance seemed to go downhill fast. I didn’t want to say goodbye so soon after having lost Jake. Despite Chance’s stance of being a loner, I loved that guy. I call home now and I wish I could hear his bark wanting to talk to me. I really do believe he understood me and I him. I believe that he got a second chance coming to be with us and we let him be his own self.

We had a Golden Retriever at home and she was the perfect dog. But we thought we should get a smaller lap dog for grandma. So we purchased Jake, a Shih Tzu but he was sick and we couldn’t take him for another week. We were told we could visit Jake every day if we wanted, he just couldn’t be near another dog until his medicine had taken effect. We did visit a couple of times during that week of waiting. Our family in a pet store is a dangerous thing with our love for pets we could have brought a dozen more animals home with us. When the day arrived, I had to work so the wife went to pick up Jake. I must preface this by letting you know that our golden retriever had absolutely bonded with the wife more than anyone else in the family. Also, our golden retriever was also a year and a half old now.

When she arrived at the pet shop they started to get Jake ready for his trip home. She decided to take a walk down the aisle past the other puppies. A brand new golden retriever puppy had just arrived and it took one look at her and went wild. It barked and barked like crazy. Of course, She wanted to see it and probably hold it but she held her resolve and kept walking. Another person was walking a few feet behind her and walked by the new puppy and the puppy didn’t even flinch. Absolute quiet, the puppy just laid there. The wife stayed out of sight and watched as several other people walked by and still no reaction from the puppy. So she decided to walk briefly in front of the puppy again. Sure enough, the puppy went crazy again. She walked one more time out of sight and the dog quieted down and several more people walked by again and nothing. She asked the store owner if she could see the puppy. Of course, they gladly obliged. It wasn’t even ten minutes after that point that my phone rang. Me being the dog lover that I was, what was I going to say. What I haven’t told you is that we bought our first dog, the other golden retriever at home, from the same pet store. The new golden puppy had the same mother as our first dog. They were sisters. How this dog knew and how it chose the wife I’ll never know.

So we ended up with the “Three Musketeers” with Jake the ShihTzu growing up thinking that he was a golden retriever and he could do anything the big dogs could do. He also fell madly in love with our second retriever and would not give up trying to figure how to mate with this dog that was five times his size. She tolerated him by letting him groom her every day that she was with us.

Today after eighteen years our third Golden Retriever “Jake”, went to be with Vegas and Mesa and I know he’s happy. Jake, you were a “Good Boy”