Yesterday I turned four.  Yes, really I did!  I know I look much younger and I attribute that to healthy food, plenty of love and a really good gene pool combination, but I honestly am four years old now.  Can you recall when you were my age?  I know that's been a lot longer for some of you than others but it's such a special, once in a lifetime age, I hope you can remember.

Being four means I've been places, met lots of different folks and have a pocket full of experiences under my belt.  The best of the best is the friends I've made as I've traveled along lifes pathways.  Some have been much bigger than me, some have been much hairier than me and some haven't had much hair at all, but the one thing they've all had in common is that I loved each and every one of them to bits and pieces.

For my birthday yesterday I received a couple of new toys and yes, they are wonderful, all fresh and unchewed but something was missing... can you guess what is is?

Let me start by telling you a story about another present I received, it goes like this...

I'm a lucky pooch who has never gone without an extensive assortment of toys to play with, however, I tend to love them maybe just a smidgeon too much.  If there's a squeaker inside, and of course those are my favorite kind, I just can't seem to rest without doing my best to "kill" that darn thing!  I even give myself extra points if I'm able to extract that noise maker out of the tiniest hole,  like a surgeon doing fine, complicated surgery.  Once the squeaker has been separated from its host toy, the stuffing is next on the list.  Oh, the fun of leaving tiny balls of white snow like  stuff all around the house!  Unfortunately my mom doesn't share the sense of accomplishment I do and in fact, from the huffing and puffing she does while gathering it all up leaves me to believe she's maybe even angry or disappointed in my ways of showing love.  Once a toy has been thourougly loved in the methods mentioned above, the leftover corpses go to live in the closet, up high on a shelf where I can't even see them,  but my feline siblings assure me they are there.

 

And then came by birthday day...  Try for a moment to imagine sitting alone on the floor and then having an entire bag,  really big bag, of friends you've loved in the past but haven't seen or sniffed properly for the longest time, being showered upon you all at once.  It was downright magical.  There they all were, patched up beautifully and ready to play with once again.  Everyone seemed so happy to be back together and I smiled ear to ear, I just couldn't believe it was true and it seemed to me that everything was right in my world once again!

New toy that I hoped for & got!

The moral of this story is to remind you all that as amazingly wonderful as new friends are, all shiny bright, without any tatters yet,  no smell of dog drool on them and all their seams sewn shut nice and tight, they just don't quite compare to the comfort, of old friends full of memories.  I'm old enough now to understand that it takes time for new friends to become old friends and to be as loved and cherished as much.  I'm making it my mission to make that happen as quickly as possible though because without a doubt, old friends are the very bestest kind!

 So hug your friends, new ones and old ones.  Share experiences, make memories, lots of them, let them know just how important they are to you, even leave a little drool on them if you must.  Just be sure to treasure them even if you might not get to see them often, even if they have some flaws and never forge those who helped make you, you!

Loves & Licks,

Stella

PS ~ In full disclosure, one is already residing once again in Moms closet.  Sorry Hedgie