Gizmo.

My girlfriend would be the first to tell you that I am not a fan of smaller dogs. She would only say that because I have made fun of her dogs ever since I met her (back in 2009??? wow that's a long time ago). Back on point, today my Dad, Mary, Jess and I went over to my Aunt Lisa's house for a family BBQ. All of the aunts, uncles and some of my cousins were going to be there: Uncle Martin and Aunt Debbie with Greg (and he brought his girlfirnd too), Uncle Tony and Aunt Diane, Aunt Lisa, DJ and Lauren. In addition, my grandpa came to and brought his girlfriend (which was slightly awkward, but it's all good!).

Lisa has had this dog, names Gizmo, for quite some time (at least ten years) and today she told us that he developed cancer and that he was very sick. I could tell immediately that he was quite sick because he was very skinny (you could see his whole spine) and he was very slowing moving. Even in his condition, he still walked over to Jess and I and said "hello." She went on to tell us that he was going to be put down tomorrow and that today was going to be his last day. When she told me that, I began to reflect on when I first met the little guy.

I first met Gizmo in upstate New York when we were at Uncle Steve's (Lisa's former husband) cabin. The cabin was gorgeous and it was on a great piece of property. Gizmo joined us that year because it was their new dog (their first pet too I believe). He was quite the ankle bitter at that time (he constantly bit my ankles and feet throughout the whole trip). But he was always full of spunk for being such a little dog.

Since today is his last day, I wanted to take the moment to think back about all of the good memories I had with him and hope that DJ, Lauren, and Lisa will be ok.

This is my cousin DJ with Gizmo, one of his best friends. RIP