Monty

1997-2012

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We said good-bye to Vinnie today. His last “Vinnie Here” column ran in the bulletin today. Before Mass started, we sat down in the pew and read the final conversation that Father and Vinnie had to share with us. And the kiddo saw Father up near the alter preparing for Mass, and he went up there by himself and told Father he was sorry Vinnie died and that he liked Vinnie and that Vinnie was a good dog. Then the kiddo came back to us, sat down, took a pencil out of the pew and drew a little halo and wings on the picture of Vinnie that has accompanied all the inspirational columns in the bulletin week after week and year after year now.

In his homily today, Father talked about how hard it is to deal with loss, and how amazing it is the way four-legged friends become family and so important to us. After both Father and much of the congregation composed ourselves, he also told us the story of how the internet is a funny thing... how it can get you into trouble. Like it did for Father on Friday. He read the story in the Akron Beacon Journal about shipping dogs from the overcrowded Summit County shelter off to a Buffalo shelter. He then got on the internet and looked through the dogs available in Akron, but none of them connected with him. But from that site there was a link to a Labrador rescue site in Dayton, and the very last dog on the list was The One. Looking a lot like Vinnie, this female dog made her way into Father’s heart.

Father told us how he kept enlarging and then minimizing her picture, over and over. Then he picked up the phone, figuring that no one would be around on the day before the holiday. But someone did pick up, and Father chatted with them about the dog. Then Father told them he didn’t really know when he could make it down to Dayton... and the person on the other end said, “But I’m headed to Pennsylvania on Sunday afternoon and have to go right through Akron. I could bring her if you’d like!” And that’s how we came to have a new church dog. Not one better or worse than Vinnie, not a replacement, but simply a new member of the family.

This week we’ll be headed out to PetSmart to pick up a gift card and the kiddo will be making a welcome home card, because we want to make sure Minnie knows, just like Vinnie, that she is loved and she is home.

Vinnie's Gone

We had a lot going on last weekend… we had a wedding to attend Saturday and then Sunday I had a table at the Akron-Canton Comic Con selling copies of Deus ex Comica alongside my friend and editor John, who was selling copies of his book (also expertly edited!), Collect All 21. So we didn't make it to Mass Sunday morning.

If you've read my book, you know the kiddo spends one week every summer at my parents' house in the same tradition that my sister and I spent a week at our dad's parents' house when we were kids. That week this year for the kiddo is this week.

So Thursday morning, the kiddo sees the story about Vinnie, our parish dog, passing away in the Akron Beacon Journal. He calls us from my parents' house crying, horribly upset over Vinnie dying. Just a heartbreaking moment as a parent. One of our two dogs had back surgery about five years ago, is getting old, moving slow, and growing blind. My wife and I have commented a lot over the last few months about how much of a downhill slide the dog seems to be on. Nothing bad enough to have to make the tough decision yet, but we know it is looming in front of us, so maybe it’s a good thing the kiddo’s going through these emotions now with Vinnie.

For a few years now, Father has been writing his pastor’s message in the weekly bulletin as a conversation between him and Vinnie. Sometimes I think the kiddo’s favorite part of Mass each week is reading the Vinnie story. Many were collected in book form a year or so ago, which I have really enjoyed revisiting. We celebrated the kiddo’s first communion this May, and he decided to spend part of his gift money on his own copy of Vinnie Here. So as he was crying into the phone, asking us to give extra hugs to our dogs from him while he's away at grandma and grandpa's and telling me he was going to be so sad because there wouldn’t be any more “Vinnie stories,” I reminded him that he had Vinnie’s book and he can read and reread all those stories as much as he wants.

A couple weeks ago, Vinnie was roaming church before nine o’clock Mass. The kiddo’s face lit up as Vinnie sided up to and poked his head into our pew. And there were lots of pets and wags and smiles. I’m glad we got to see Vinnie that morning. Those personal greetings always meant so much, and that recent one makes his passing seem a little easier for all of us to take now.