news-record.com

I'm leaving today for a trip. I haven't even left yet and I'm already feeling homesick. It's always so hard to leave Yoshi, whether it's an overnight stay or a week's vacation. He's just such a big part of my life that it feels so weird to be anywhere without him.

He senses it too when I'm preparing to go somewhere. It's gotten to the point where I try to sneak my suitcase out of the closet when he's not looking because when he sees the suitcase, he gets really depressed. But this is hard to do sometimes since the closet is right by his dog bed. As soon as he sees the suitcase, he gets really mopey. It started to set in last night when I started to pack. I wish I could take him with me, but my husband is staying home with him and they'll have boy's weekend -- football, beers and hot dogs (well, Yoshi will have to just settle for football).

The last trip we took, we decided to bring one of our framed photos of Yoshi with us. It's a small plastic frame containing a photo of him smiling so big while on a walk at the Greensboro Arboretum. It was comforting to have that picture frame with us. I put it on our nightstand and we'd say goodnight to him every night before we went to sleep. When I finish my last bit of packing this afternoon, I'm going to put that photo in a safe spot. Seeing his goofy, smiling face will make me feel less homesick... or more likely, it will only make me miss him more.