We are deep in the Ardennes of Belgium, at an old farm, complete with massive fireplace that George and Henry are currently curled up next to each other and snoring. It takes a lot of energy to run around like you are a young dog again.

George is 14 today. Watching him run through the grass here and start barking at a calf that was grazing on the lawn, it’s easy to forget his age. And GG has just spent the past hour trying to speak French to a local vet’s wife because we forgot George’s pills in all of the chaos of leaving. We are in a village with 10 houses and no lights. Which is the perfect place to get away unless you forgot something urgent.

So now we wait – to see if they can compound something locally. Otherwise, it’s back in the car tomorrow or via the high speed train from Brussels to go home and pick up his pills because a week is too long for him to go without.

We were hoping to have a peaceful week here with the dogs. Yet I brought my banjo so that doesn’t mean peace for the surrounding village. 😉 We’ll pick Rupert up at Brussels on Wednesday night and stay a few more days.

During this week, I hope that Henry and George get a chance to run around, smell many new things, take naps next to the fireplace and generally get a chance to relax. It would be great if the people in their lives could do this is as well but my first priority is their relaxation. As easygoing as they are, I know that I generate a lot of stress for them to absorb. They always do that willingly but I do worry about the impact.

GG just said to me “And you thought you would have to relax on this trip.” Which is her way of poking fun at my difficulty with taking time off in general. 😉

P.S. — turns out the vet left a message because he needed to check his compendium if he could make it and he heard that GG speaks Dutch. So when she called back to try and get through in English and he said that “Dutch was much easier for him.” Jesus Pete… this is after four phone calls in GG’s tortured high school French. We are laughing about that now. The good news – tomorrow at 830AM, we can pick up pills for George. Now it’s time to have a glass of wine!

It’s pretty overcast and the square outside is still wet from the rain from earlier this morning. Snoozing on the couch, under his bright red IKEA blanket and with his brother snoring away beside him, Henry seems to be taking his 14th birthday in stride.

He’s the first of the birthdays this week. Pickle and Olive will turn 1 on the 26th and George turns 14 on the 30th.

I love all my pets. Henry is my solid little rock. He tries and he tries and he keeps on going. This is one of the things I love about him. He’s shorter than George but does his best to keep up with his unusual little bunny hop. He’s also fully capable of setting his entire body weight in as resistance, which is always a surprise of how much stubborn can fit in a small dog.

Since we have been going to the new office location this summer, he’s eager to go in the mornings. He dances at the door if he sees me grab my backpack. He gets into elevators now and he is quite comfortable navigating his way around the coworking spaces.

He doesn’t see as well now so I take that into consideration. I leave more lights on for him to make it easier for him to see where the door is at night.

Next week, we are going to the Belgian countryside with my family. The boys will be coming too. I’m looking forward to seeing Henry run through the grass and lie in the sun. When I went to Italy a few years ago, Henry was very good at practicing vacation pose.

The thing I wish people would stop doing is getting that look when they ask me how old he is. They make a certain noise too like “Ohhhhermm” and then say something like “Well, that’s quite old, you know”. He’s a senior citizen, which is not necessarily the same as being one step away from the grave!

Tonight they will get something special for dinner 🙂 And we will celebrate another year!